


Secrets in the Storm

by TaehaNatsuki



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Asexual Character, Domestic Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Friendship, M/M, Rehabilitation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:34:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 28,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27394303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaehaNatsuki/pseuds/TaehaNatsuki
Summary: Strength is something Endou Mikia had long been seen as a perfect example of whether that be physically, mentally, or emotionally. She's the captain of her university judo team, the top of her class in linguistics, and is often sought after for advice from others in a variety of different issues. What happens when she is found on a stormy day, broken, by people that she barely knows? Will she be willing to let them in and face the secrets she has long since closed off from the world?Also thank you so much @biffstix for the amazing cover :)
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou, Kuroo Tetsurou/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	1. TRIGGER WARNING

So I just wanted to put this note at the beginning of this story so I don't have to put these in front of every single chapter.

This book is one big trigger warning. It focuses heavily on the issue of domestic violence and will contain large amounts of cursing, slurs, graphic descriptions of abuse, panic attacks, and will most likely also contain smut at some point.

A lot of this book stems from my own personal experience and therefore will be quite descriptive especially in the areas of the feelings that come from domestic abuse. Before anyone asks, I have been out of that situation for several years now and am perfectly fine. I just wanted to put that here. 

Also, if you or anyone else you know is struggling in a domestic violence situation, please reach out to the people around you. Or if you want to talk, I'm always available. I've also included multiple hotline numbers for victims regarding various aspects of abuse and domestic violence. Please don't hesitate to reach out to these lines if you are in danger.

 **National Resource Center on Domestic Violence**  
1-800-537-2238

 **Futures Without Violence: The National Health Resource Center on Domestic Violence**  
1-888-792-2873

 **National Center on Domestic Violence, Trauma & Mental Health**  
1-312-726-7020 ext. 2011  
  


 **National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights**  
1-510-465-1984

 **The National Domestic Violence Hotline**  
1-800-799-7233 (SAFE)

 **National Dating Abuse Helpline**  
1-866-331-9474

 **National Child Abuse Hotline/Childhelp**  
1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453)

 **National Sexual Assault Hotline**  
1-800-656-4673 (HOPE)

 **National Suicide Prevention Lifeline**  
1-800-273-8255 (TALK)

 **National Center for Victims of Crime**  
1-202-467-8700


	2. Prologue

_"Family is supposed to be our safe haven. Very often, it's the place where we find the deepest heartache."_ ** _~Iyanla Vanzant_**  
\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 _THUD!!!_ "You stupid bitch! You and that useless child ruined my whole fucking life!"

I pulled my pillow tighter across the back of my head and over my ears. Seven years old was way too young to have a set method for drowning out the telltale sounds of what was sure to be another night of my parents having a long "misunderstanding" as my mom would call them.

Despite my young age, I wasn't stupid. It didn't take long for me to notice the purple bruising that covered my mom's body or that there were always darker ones after their night-long "misunderstandings." Not only that, I was also constantly reminded that I needed to be perfect or else my dad would get mad. Perfect grades. Perfect at judo once I started it at age 11. Perfect daughter, which included helping keep the house clean, perfect manners, looking impeccable at all times, and being the top of my class in piano as well.

It was a lot of pressure for a kid that finally reached a boiling point when I reached 3rd grade. That was when I made my first B in school. A storm rumbled ever closer, as I quickly made my way back home from school. I was terrified as I reached my home and went straight to the kitchen where my parents were waiting.

Without so much as a "welcome home" or nod of greeting from either of my parents. Instead, my father simply held out his hand, and I swallowed loudly as I surrendered my report card with trembling hands. My blood pounded in my ears as I watched my father's narrowed steely eyes scan the document in his hands before meeting my gaze with an unreadable expression.

Ten seconds. That's the amount of time it took for my father to go from staring me down to me looking up at him from my new location, sprawled on the cool tile of our kitchen floor, my head spinning from the sudden pain on both sides of my skull. One side from its impact with the floor, the other from the impact of my father's still raised fist. Through the scalding tears blurring my vision, I could just make out my mom's expression as she watched scene unfold. Her sky blue eyes looked unsurprised and apathetic as I cried out in fear and pain. As my senses began to fade, my cries died out in tandem with my hopes of being helped by my mom, the person who was supposed to love and protect me, my parents' conversation burned itself into my memory.

"Ichika, take her upstairs and clean that blood up. Also, make sure she doesn't eat dinner tonight or breakfast tomorrow morning. No use wasting food on such a worthless child."

"Of course, my dear." I'd never heard my mom sound so happy and relieved, and in desperation, I croaked out a weak, whispered "I'm sorry". My apology went unheard as the thunder from the storm around us boomed and I finally escaped consciousness.

\------------------------------------------------  
  
Song: Dollhouse by Melanie Martinez

Thanks again to for 

for the amazing cover :) 

_"Family is supposed to be our safe haven. Very often, it's the place where we find the deepest heartache."_ ** _~Iyanla Vanzant_**  
\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 _THUD!!!_ "You stupid bitch! You and that useless child ruined my whole fucking life!"

I pulled my pillow tighter across the back of my head and over my ears. Seven years old was way too young to have a set method for drowning out the telltale sounds of what was sure to be another night of my parents having a long "misunderstanding" as my mom would call them.

Despite my young age, I wasn't stupid. It didn't take long for me to notice the purple bruising that covered my mom's body or that there were always darker ones after their night-long "misunderstandings." Not only that, I was also constantly reminded that I needed to be perfect or else my dad would get mad. Perfect grades. Perfect at judo once I started it at age 11. Perfect daughter, which included helping keep the house clean, perfect manners, looking impeccable at all times, and being the top of my class in piano as well.

It was a lot of pressure for a kid that finally reached a boiling point when I reached 3rd grade. That was when I made my first B in school. A storm rumbled ever closer, as I quickly made my way back home from school. I was terrified as I reached my home and went straight to the kitchen where my parents were waiting.

Without so much as a "welcome home" or nod of greeting from either of my parents. Instead, my father simply held out his hand, and I swallowed loudly as I surrendered my report card with trembling hands. My blood pounded in my ears as I watched my father's narrowed steely eyes scan the document in his hands before meeting my gaze with an unreadable expression.

Ten seconds. That's the amount of time it took for my father to go from staring me down to me looking up at him from my new location, sprawled on the cool tile of our kitchen floor, my head spinning from the sudden pain on both sides of my skull. One side from its impact with the floor, the other from the impact of my father's still raised fist. Through the scalding tears blurring my vision, I could just make out my mom's expression as she watched scene unfold. Her sky blue eyes looked unsurprised and apathetic as I cried out in fear and pain. As my senses began to fade, my cries died out in tandem with my hopes of being helped by my mom, the person who was supposed to love and protect me, my parents' conversation burned itself into my memory.

"Ichika, take her upstairs and clean that blood up. Also, make sure she doesn't eat dinner tonight or breakfast tomorrow morning. No use wasting food on such a worthless child."

"Of course, my dear." I'd never heard my mom sound so happy and relieved, and in desperation, I croaked out a weak, whispered "I'm sorry". My apology went unheard as the thunder from the storm around us boomed and I finally escaped consciousness.

\------------------------------------------------  
  
Song: Dollhouse by Melanie Martinez

Thanks again to for 

for the amazing cover :) 


	3. Ch. 1 Only a Dream

_"I used to walk with confidence..._

_Now I walk with apologies."_ **_~Unknown_ ** ****

_\-------------------------------------------------------------_

\---Mikia's POV---

With a gasp for air, I shot up in bed and took several deep breaths as my eyes adjusted to the darkness around me. I let out a silent sigh of relief as my surroundings slowly came into focus.

Soft snores came from a warm, firm body beside me, a strong arm wrapped securely across my lap as I gently carded my fingers through the mess of shaggy brown hair and gazed down lovingly at the olive skin of the man keeping me hostage in the bed. The sleeping figure of Asai Katashi, my boyfriend of three years was a good reminder that what I had just experienced was only a dream. Then, why were my hands still trembling? Not wanting to wake the sleeping man, I quit stroking his hair and allowed my eyes to scan our bedroom, taking in familiar sights that allowed me to further ground myself.

The maroon curtains hanging from our window were pulled clsoed to reduce the amount of light coming in from outside. On the nightstand on my side of the bed was a framed picture of us smiling together at Universal Studios Japan. On Katashi's side was a plaque signifying an award he won at a Super Smash Bros tournament a couple of months back. Yep. Katashi was a pro gamer, which helped pay the bills most of the time. On the occasions when it wouldn't, I would work odd jobs for land lady who had a kind heart and was always more than willing to pay me to do different jobs from repainting a room that needed to be done or doing her grocery shopping for her.

With my survey of the room complete, I let out a sigh of relief once again. It was definitely just a dream. My father couldn't reach me here, not that he wanted to. He and my mother had kicked me out of the house at age 18, not caring whether or not I had a place to go or if I would be stuck on the street.

What was their reasoning? I had decided to go to Keizai University, where I had been offered a full-paid academic scholarship and a place on the judo team. They had wanted me to attend Tokyo University, where while I had gotten accepted, I would have had to taken out copious amounts of student loans and would not be allowed to even try out for the judo team. As soon as I told them, I had found myself locked out of the house with only the clothes and laptop in my backpack. I lived in a homeless shelter briefly until I was able to gain access to my dorm that was paid for by the university.

Refusing to let my mind go a single step further down that dark road, I checked the time on my phone. _4:45am. No use going back to sleep just to wake up in an hour. Might as well grab breakfast and a hot tea on my way to morning practice._ With that thought, I quickly threw on a breathable, athletic fabric-made charcoal gray turleneck shirt with a red polo over it along with some simple straight-legged khaki pants. On my way out the door, I grabbed my keys, wallet, backpack, and slung my purple athletics bag over my shoulder, slipping into some simple black Adidas tennis shoes as I opened the door and headed out.

As I was walking towards the apartment lobby, I took the dark gray hair tie I was holding in my teeth and quickly pulled my long, curly, deep caramel brown hair into a secure high messy bun. However, as soon as my hair was up, I bumped into something, or my like someone, falling on the floor.

An involuntary wince crossed my features as an irrational fear began to claw its way up my spine and various spots on my body whined in protest. _Not now, Mikia._ With that thought, I lifted my gunmetal blue eyes and met the gaze of a man with large amber eyes and a head of spiky silver hair with black streaks.

"Hey, hey, hey!" the man exclaimed loudly with a worried expression as he offered me a hand to help me up, "Are you okay? Sorry I ran into you! I didn't expect anyone else to be up this early!" His voice was way too full of energy for me to deal with this early in the morning, especially without some sort of caffeine in my system.

Despite my inner annoyance, I gave a polite close-eyed smile and opted for getting up on my own as I gave a slight bow in apology. It's times like these where I found myself regretfully thanking my father for the training he and my mother put me through. Forcing a smile is something one could say I was a bit of an expert in as well as finding ways to make any situation my fault.

"No, I'm sorry. I was in a hurry and wasn't paying attention to where I was going," I replied before quickly trying to leave, "Please excuse me." As I went to move past him, his hand shot out and grabbed my arm firmly, turning me around and causing me to flinch slightly as pain radiated from my more recent bruises. Noticing this, the man quickly released my arm, rubbing the back of his neck with an apologetic smile.

"Sorry sorry! I just wanted to get your name since me and my partner just moved in this past weekend. I'm Bokuto Koutarou," he introduced with a friendly grin as he pointed a thumb at himself.

Even with his friendly and genuine demeanor, I found myself becoming ever-aware of the panic from earlier that was quickly beginning to show its claws once again as my eyes flitted nervously around the hallway. I needed to end this conversation. NOW.

"I'm Endou Mikia. Now, please excuse me, Bokuto-san," I responded hurriedly as I pushed past him, using all of my willpower not to sprint down the hallway. Through the pounding of blood in my eyes, I could just barely make out my new neighbor calling out, "See you later, Endou-chan! Nice to meet you!" at a volume way too damn loud for 5:30am. His volume made me panic ever more as well as his words. I could almost feel the new bruises forming under my turtleneck as I finally made it out of the apartment.

Standing in the fresh air, an exhale of a breath I didn't know I had been holding came out in a slight puff as I began to my walk towards the coffee shop to start my day. Looking up at the gray September sky, a bittersweet smile found its way onto my lips as I silently acknowledged the impending storm.

\------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Song: Home by Cavetown

**A/N: This will be the last shorter chapter (I'm hoping.). I hope y'all are enjoying this story so far. Kuroo is coming soon I promise :) <3 Also, I will follow some parts of the canon and some I won't depending on if it fits my story. I won't denote which ones are which, so I guess some spoilers for the time skip I guess as far as some of the characters' jobs and stuff. **


	4. Ch. 2: Double Life

_"It's like one day you flipped a switch and became someone I never knew."_

\-------------------------------------------

"Hey, Captain!" a mellow, accented voice called out to me right before I was barrelled into for a hug as someone jumped on my back, causing me to spill the remaining half of my hot tea on the ground. Irritation radiated off of me in waves as the person was removed from my back, and the culprit dragged along by the owner of the mellow voice entered my field of vision.

"Inoue, the next time you pull that shit and make me spill my caffeine, I'm flipping your ass," I state bluntly, my eyes narrowing almost into slits at the 5ft 4in blonde boy being dragged by the collar by none other than my vice captain, Ortiz-Castillo Raul, a 6ft dark skinned exchange student from Guadalajara, Mexico, and my closest friend that I had made at the university.

"Take it easy, la trigresa (tigress)," Castillo teased with a small smile that reached his chocolate brown eyes, causing me to roll my own eyes and take a deep breath, calming myself.

"Callate, Castillo," I responded in Spanish, with an annoyed voice that had almost no real bite to it, earning from a chuckle from him as I turned my attention to the nervous first year that was Inoue Tatsuki, who was silently awaiting my wrath, and threw him some money which he caught with his top notch reflexes, "Tatsu, bring me a black tea before practice start, and I'll _consider_ not making you stretch with me for the day."

At that, Tatsu paled before nodding with determination and running off like a man on a mission. Stretching with me was terrifying for most of our teammates since flexibility was something I was quite stern about and would push them past their limits to the point it would often make them more sore than an actual sparring session would.

"You're going soft, Captain," Yamazaki Shoma, our other 1st year, a guy who was nearly 6ft 4in in height and had shoulder length black hair that he kept pulled into a low bun, commented with a sigh. I rolled my eyes yet again before elbowing him in the gut just hard enough to knock the wind out of him, causing the giant of a man to hunch over and putting him almost at eye level with me.

"Want to run that one by me again, Yamazaki?" I asked with an oddly kind smile that always unnerved my teammates because I had quite the reputation for being a bit of a demon captain. I was never unnecessarily tough on my teammates, but I did have high expectations and was quite strict as a result.

Yamazaki gave me a small smile and shook his head in response. A pat on my back ended our little back and forth as Castillo motioned towards the gym before looking at his watch. Despite the aching in my back as well as my arms and legs from the various other events from this morning,a sincere smile found its way onto my lips. These guys, plus our two 2nd years, who had better hope they were already in the gym, as well as our manager, Castillo's younger sister Luisa, made me feel at home. Or at least, they created a space that was what I imagined home was supposed to be: warm, kind, and most importantly of all, safe.

Unfortunately, practice can only last so long, and as usual for me, my day passed in a flash. Judo and my classes were the best parts of my life. For those 8 hours combined, Monday through Friday, I was strong, free, safe, and in charge of my own life. Those feelings were amazing but temporary, and I was always reminded of that fact almost as soon as I stepped through the door of my apartment.

"You're five minutes late," Katashi's low voice commented, irritation lacing his words as I gave him a nervous, apologetic smile.

"Sorry about that, Katashi. A classmate stopped to ask me for some notes she missed," I responded honestly, though with how nervous I was for his reaction, my voice shook, making it sound like I was lying.

"Really? Are you sure you weren't flirting with our new meat head of a neighbor like you were this morning?" he immediately accused, and I felt my head fly into a panic.

"I wasn't flirting with him!" I insisted, but Katashi's unconvinced green eyes had me questioning my own memory.

_Maybe I did flirt with him! But I was so sure that I didn't. I made sure to use a formal honorific, only used his last name, refused to take his hand when he tried to help me up... We only touched when we ran into each other on accident and when he grabbed my arm. Was me not scolding him for that mean I was flirting?!?!_

"See you later, _Endou-channnn!_ " Katashi mocked Bokuto's voice from this morning, and I felt all the blood leave my face as I knew now why he was angry.

"I-I'm sorry, Katashi... I was already almost outside, and I didn't want to yell at him and disturb everyone," I tried to explain, but the man I had been in love with for three years cut me off.

"Enough of your shitty excuses. I'm hungry and want spicy curry for dinner. Don't fuck it up this time, and I might just forgive you," he spat before going into the spare room he used as a streaming space and slamming the door.

Taking a deep shaky breath, I wiped the few tears that had manage to escape the confines of my tear ducts before setting my stuff down at my desk in the living room and heaving straight to the kitchen to hopefully earn Katashi's forgiveness for the mistakes I had made today. Right as I put on my apron, my phone buzzed, and as I read the message, I felt an all-too-familiar panic begin to crawl up my back just a bit more.

_It'd better be ready in 30 minutes. ~Katashi_

Sending a silent prayer to whoever or whatever might be listening, I focused on getting the food prepared as quickly as possible. I finished with a couple of minutes to spare and gently knocked on the door of the streaming room. I waited for Katashi to yell out "come in!" with a friendly voice that I almost only heard nowadays when he was still live streaming. I opened the door giving him a smile as I handed him his food.

"Where's my drink?" he asked in a fake kind voice that sent shivers down my spine in the worst way. I mumbled an apology and ran to get his drink and brough it back with another warm smile plastered on my face until he shooed me off.

I took this opportunity to work on some of my homework for my Russian class. As part of my linguistics degree, I needed to be able to pass at least 4 language proficiency tests, including the highest level of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, an exam that even made Japanese majors have a spike in blood pressure. So far, I was fairly confident that I could pass that one as well as the tests for Spanish (thanks in no small part to Castillo) and English.

Russian, however, had been plaguing me since I started studying it freshman year of college. Early on I made up for that by spending a lot of time in the language lab getting extra tutoring from Haiba Lev, a native speaker who was also fluent in Japanese, however, around 6 months after Katashi and I started dating, Katashi had asked me to stop going. He didn't trust Haiba, who unfortunately for me was the only Russian tutor there. It was frustrating given that it was largely thanks to the ridiculously tall guy that I had such a strong basis of understanding for the beautifully complicated language.

A boom of thunder accompanied by the power flickering out for a couple of seconds snapped me out of my internal lament. Those thoughts were instead replaced with a silent plea that Katashi was at least done streaming by the time the power went out. A sharp blow to my back accompanied with the sound of glass shattering and the feeling of broken glass cutting into my shoulder blades answered the plea which was then replaced with the though that at least the storm should have been loud enough to drown out what was sure happen next.

\------------------------------  
  
Song: Come Hang Out by AJR

**A/N: From now on, if the quotes at the beginning don't have a name credited to them it's because the author is unknown. They aren't my quotes, but I haven't found them to be credited to anyone either.**


	5. Ch. 3: Must Have Been the Wind

_"You are more precious to this world than you'll ever know."_

_**~Lili Rhinehart** _

\---Kuroo's POV---

"Bro, this place is nice!" I commented as Bokuto showed me around his and Akaashi's new apartment. I was going to go this past weekend and help them move, but some stuff came up last minute at work and I wasn't able to make it. Either way, they told me not to worry about it and by the looks of it, they had settled in pretty well on their own.

"Thanks, bro! Oh! I wanted to tell you that I ran into a girl in the lobby on my way to the gym this morning! I think she said her name was Endou something or another! She was really pretty and was even carrying some kind of gym bag!" my silver haired friend rambled on causing me to chuckle. Akaashi looked to be growing more and more annoyed with Bokuto's ramblings, and I couldn't help but stir the pot once I noticed.

"I didn't know you were into girls, Bokuto," I teased earning a bout of booming laughter from him and an annoyed glare from his boyfriend.

"Not for me, you dumbass rooster!" he responded after his laughter died down a bit, giving me a serious look that I rarely saw from him as he continued, "Seriously though, Kuroo. She was totally your type! Long, brown curly hair, athletic, a bit on the taller side for a girl, and she even had blue eyes! You should totally get her number!"

I couldn't help but roll my eyes at this as I found myself once again seriously regretting the night I told my best bro all of my preferences when it came to women. It was the same night Bokuto opened up to Kenma and I about his sexuality after a couple of drinks, admitting that he and Akaashi had been dating since his senior year of high school. Shortly after, Kenma explained to us both that he was asexual, something that was news to us but we were both supportive of the pudding haired boy.

After all of that, Bokuto decided it would be fun to hammer me about my preferences. We had had a couple of drinks by then, so I found myself much more open to describing my dream girl. It was like a scene I swear only showed up in chick flicks, but regardless, since then, Bokuto has had an on again off again obsession with helping me find my dream girl. It's not like I hadn't dated or had a hookup or two in the past couple of years; however, due to my introverted personality, most girls would get bored after the first or second date when they realized I was only outgoing around certain people. And it took me some time to warm up to people to that point.

Don't get me wrong, I was confident in myself, definitely liked going on adventures here and there and I enjoyed the sexual side of relationships, but I found myself craving simple affections a bit more than what many girls considered manly. For instance, my ideal time spent with someone I liked would be cuddling and watching movies or playing video games all day. And most girls found that weird and would be immediately pissed if I didn't want to go to fancy restaurants or something more adventurous constantly. It's like they were more interested in how I looked or the idea of me more than who I actually was.

"Bro, I appreciate it, but just because she looks a certain way doesn't mean she and I would be a good match. Also, she probably already has a boyfriend," I dismissed his suggestion nonchalantly before giving him a smirk, "Besides, if I started dating, I wouldn't be able to come irritate the shit out of you two as much. And let's be real, that's the highlight of your week."

At that, Bokuto gave me a sad smile. None of that was said in a negative way in my mind. I was simply being practical. Looks weren't the only important part of a person, especially when it came to getting to know them. Also, if even Bokuto was freaking out about how pretty she was, she most likely had a boyfriend. A lot of guys in this world were unfortunately still shallow enough to only care about things like that.

My silver-haired friend opened his mouth to no doubt argue that I should give this mystery girl a chance, but thunder boomed and the power went out for a couple of seconds. Thankfully, it switched back on pretty quickly, but that wasn't what ultimately ended our conversation. Not even a full minute after the power cut back on, the sound of glass shattering followed by several thumps that were mixed with the now much more frequent claps of thunder just barely muffled the sound of what sounded like someone crying out "please stop!"

Akaashi looked especially concerned as we all walked out of the apartment and down a couple of doors where whimpering could just be heard through the door. Looking at the others who nodded, I knocked softly on the door. When the door opened, I felt myself blink a couple of times in surprise. The woman in front of me, despite her disheveled appearance, was, bluntly put, stunning.

Her eyes were a gunmetal blue that only stood out more because of the red rings around her teary orbs. Her long, curly brown hair was sticking up in multiple places and the athletic fabric dark gray turtleneck stood out against her pale skin and left very little to the imagination, hugging her athletic physique but also showing well-defined curves. The sound of a throat being cleared knocked me out of what I'm sure was a trance that made the woman in front of me very uncomfortable.

"Endou-san! Are you okay??? We heard thumps and what sounded like something breaking!" Bokuto asked bluntly and it was then that I noticed a couple more things. One: This was the girl that Bokuto had told me about. And two: she was definitely NOT okay. Despite the confident expression she tried to hold even with her teary eyes, she was trembling. Something wasn't right here.

"Hi, Bokuto-san. I'm sorry, but all I've heard is the sounds from this storm. It got pretty bad there for a couple of minutes. Maybe a window in the building shattered from the winds. It wouldn't be the first time," she explained with a small, polite smile, but there was a nervous glint in her eyes as they darted around and she quickly checked over her shoulder before putting her hand more firmly on the door, "I'm sure everything is fine. Now, if you'll excuse me. I have an assignment due tomorrow that I really need to work on. Have a good night." As she went to close the door, I finally found my voice again as I put my hand on the door frame casually.

"Sorry to bother you, Endou-san was it? I'm Kuroo Tetsurou, the horned-owl idiot's best friend," I introduced with a small smile, "Are you sure you're alright though? You look as though you've been crying." At me pointing this out, she froze, the color draining from her face as she glanced over her shoulder again before grabbing my hand that was on the frame and shoving it off and slamming the door in my face. Bokuto looked pissed and was about to knock again but Akaashi stopped him, finally speaking up, his face practically pressed into the door.

"Endou-san, I'm Akaashi Keiji, Bokuto's partner. If you ever need a place to go, we're in apartment 201. You're welcome anytime. Sorry about letting these two morons bother you for no reason," Akaashi said just loud enough to let his voice be heard through the door before turning and grabbing both mine and Bokuto's arms and dragging us back to their apartment. As soon as we got back to the apartment, he shut the door, and he looked quite shaken up.

"What do you think was going on back there, Akaashi?" I questioned, my eyebrows furrowed slightly in concern as I saw the usually calm and collected man begin to falter. He had a pained expression and looked very conflicted. As he took a couple of breaths, Bokuto went over to him and wrapped an arm around the smaller man's waist in support.

"That girl... I think she's being abused," he stated bluntly as his eyes lifted to meet mine and I nodded. The same thought came to my mind, which is why I had actually wanted to talk to her a little longer. Maybe it would have somehow given us a chance to get her out of there.

"Why did we leave her there then, Keiji?! We need to go back now and save her from that!" Bokuto yelled in concern as he went to open the door but was stopped again by his boyfriend.

"Bokuto... You can't save someone who doesn't want help," Akaashi explained, his voice strained as he took a deep breath to calm himself, "If we tried to force her into coming with us, it would only hurt the situation. She has to make that decision for herself. That's why I told her she was always welcome here. That's the most we can do for her right now."

"How do you know so much about this?" I questioned gently, feeling sympathetic towards the younger man who was obviously struggling with the situation. Don't get me wrong. I was struggling too, but this seemed a lot more...personal for him somehow.

"My older sister went through something similar," he admitted, tears starting to shine in his usually stoic blue eyes, "My parents tried again and again to force her into getting out of the situation, but every time she went back. It happened so often that eventually, they stopped trying. She wasn't willing to get help on her own until it was too late. She called my parents for help, and by the time the police got to the apartment... She was gone..." My eyes widened in shock for what felt like the hundredth time since coming to their apartment that night.

"We can't let that happen to Endou-san," Bokuto stated, his voice shaking too. Without another thought, I pulled both of them into a tight group hug.

"Let's just listen to Akaashi's advice this time. We'll be here when she decides to ask for help," I stated firmly, intentionally using "when" instead of "if", knowing that Bokuto especially would run down the hall and grab the girl if he didn't believe there was any chance of her seeking help on her own.

"Thanks, pain-in-the-ass Kuroo-san," Akaashi mumbled, his voice shaking ever so slightly as Bokuto and I both tightened our grip around him. It was going to be okay. It had to be.

Our way too emotional bro moment was interrupted as my phone started ringing, playing the Dragonborn Comes, the song Kenma chose when I let him pick his ringtone. Knowing the smaller boy was probably concerned with the storm, I separated from the other two before heading to the door and slipping on my shoes as I answered my phone.

" _Where are you, Kuro? The storm is supposed to start up again soon,_ " Kenma's quiet voice came from my speaker.

"Awww you're worried about me, Kenma? I'm a grown ass man. A storm won't bother me, but since you're so worried, I'll head home now," I teased and I could practically feel his annoyance through the phone.

" _I'm not worried about you_ ," was his only response.

"Are too."

" _I'm not._ "

"You are too."

" _I'm not._ "

"Come on, Kenma. Just admit you're worried about your best friend. I'll be home in no time," I crooned in a teasing tone. The only response I got was the click of Kenma hanging up earning a much needed laugh from me and Bokuto. Hell, even Akaashi cracked a smile.

After saying our goodbyes, I decided to jog to mine and Kenma's place. I needed the exercise to help organize my thoughts and also to hopefully make it home before the storm picked back up. However, no matter how fast I ran, I just couldn't get that image of Endou-san's terrified eyes matched with her fierce expression. In 24 years of being alive, I couldn't remember ever being so immediately invested in another person's well-being.

"Okaa-san, if you're watching, can you please make it to where Endou-san escapes whatever or whoever it is that she is so terrified of?" I found myself speaking out loud as I looked up to the stormy sky, hoping more than ever that my mother could hear me from her place in the clouds.

\----------------------------------------------------------

Song: Must Have Been the Wind by Alec Benjamin


	6. Ch. 4: Judo

_"An athlete is a normal person_ _with the gift of an undying passionto be the best and achieve greatness."_

\---Mikia's POV---

Following me slamming the door closed, the only thing I could hear over the ringing in my ears was my own hyperventilating. The guys that were on the other side of the door I could tell were trying to help especially the guy I believe said his name was Akaashi. His words had hit me the hardest. And that concerned expression from the tall black haired man who introduced himself as Kuroo was almost enough to make me break, and at the same time, it pissed me off. Everything was fine. It was just a bad night for Katashi. They didn't know anything about me or about Katashi. Despite all of that, one set of thoughts kept replaying through my head. _Were they serious about me going there if I needed help? No, of course not. They were probably just saying that out of pity._

Knowing that this line of thinking would not make anything better, I found myself taking deep breaths to try and calm down and quickly wiped my tears away, allowing me to get a better view of the damage done to the living room. There was broken glass around my desk that I quickly started to clean up, and fortunately, there didn't seem to have been any liquid in the glass. The lacerations in my back stung as the glass in them shifted as I worked on cleaning up the aftermath of Katashi's wrath.

Sometimes I wonder why I let him continue to do these things to me, but every time I try and convince myself to leave, I remember that this was how my parents' relationship was too. That must mean it's normal right? No. I knew better than that. I wasn't stupid, but that's also all I had ever known growing up. And it's not like Katashi had always been like this.

"Hey... Baby, are you okay?" Katashi's voice called out, much softer and kind, the total opposite of how he was acting earlier as I turned to him and tried not to wince as the glass pieces once again shifted themselves in my back, "I'm so sorry. Let me help you with your back." I nodded with a sad smile as he held his arms out for me, and on instinct, I ran straight into those arms and hugged him tightly, the tears finally breaking free.

"Shhhh... Baby, it's okay. I'm sorry about that. I was just really angry about the power going out in the middle of a stream where I was actually ahead of that damned Kudzoken for once. You know I'd never mean to hurt you right?" he said gently as he took my hand and led me to our bathroom where he pulled out a first aid kit. I looked into his emerald eyes and couldn't help but smile and nod when I saw the kindness reflected in them. This was the person I fell in love, the person I chose to stay beside.

After Katashi helped me with getting all the glass out of my back and cleaning the wounds, he pulled me into our bed and held me gently. Not being able to help it, I looked up at him from my spot on his chest, and he gave me a loving a smile before cupping my cheek and pulling me into a sweet kiss that lasted only a couple of moments. When we separated, I felt the need to be close to him starting to bubble up, and when he gently pulled me up and started placing soft kisses on my neck, I felt my body begin to heat up with need. Since the first time Katashi had lost it and hurt me on accident, I had found myself craving intimacy with him. Because for that time, it was like the man I fell in love with was finally in my arms again.

"I love you, baby," Katashi said between kisses, and I melted. With those words, all was forgiven, and nothing and no one else mattered.

"I love you, too."

\-------------------------------  
  
Nearly two weeks had passed since the run in with my neighbors and their tall black haired friend. It was now a Saturday, and the Judo club had a tournament today, meaning I had a bit of a later start than I normally would for practice. This meant it was a rare occasion that I could actually eat breakfast with Katashi; however, due to it being a day for matches, I had to be a lot more careful what I ate. Instead of cooking something, I went with some eggs that I had already boiled ahead of time as well as some fruit.

Before I knew it, it was time to head to the competition. Katashi didn't acknowledge me as I grabbed my bag and said bye before heading out. He was always pissy and dismissive when it came to my judo stuff. He hated the fact that I was on a team full of guys, which was a big part of the reason I had to beg Castillo's sister, Luisa, to be our manager. It finally allowed me to say that I wasn't the only girl on the team. The thing was, Katashi didn't exactly know that I was the team captain and therefore was fairly close and social with my teammates. That was a fight I just wasn't ready to have. Judo was the one thing I had that was completely mine, not tainted by my home life both as a child and now as an adult. The mat was the one place I truly felt free from the storm that was my life.

Checking the time, I took a drink of my water as I headed to the competition site. Since it was nearby, we decided to all just meet there instead of at the school. As I arrived, I saw the rest of my team in their matching dark red tracksuits with two white stripes down the side and navy blue shirts with "経済大学" (Keizai University) on the front vertically in bold white letters. I picked up the pace and was immediately handed the roster by Luisa. I checked to make sure everyone was present before heading over to the sign in counter.

"Good morning, I need to check in the Keizai University Judo Club please," I said politely with a small smile. The man at the counter glanced up at me before dismissing me with an irritated sigh.

"Sorry, missy, but only captains can sign their team in. Not managers," the man stated, going back to work on whatever it was he was doing. Our two first years looked nervous and I heard Castillo's deep chuckle as I slammed the paperwork on the desk and pushed it over whatever the hell the man was looking at, a close eyed smile on my face.

"Look, missy, I told you-"

"I heard you just fine, _sir_ ; however, my name is not, nor has it ever been, missy. It's Endou Mikia, and if you'd take a closer look at this paperwork, sir, you would see that I am in fact the captain of this team," I said in a sickeningly sweet voice causing the man to check the paper before looking up at me shock, "Now, I would like to check in the Keizai University Judo Club so that we can get changed and prepare for the competition." The man nodded quickly and checked us in before giving us our badges showing that we were competitors.

After dealing with that misogynist, I rolled my shoulders to get rid of some of the tension in them. _Gotta let it roll off of your back, Mikia. You know that's only the beginning of what you'll most likely deal with today._ With that super enthusiastic thought, I dismissed everyone to go get changed, telling them to meet back in the waiting area for the teams in 15 minutes. This would give everyone time to really get their heads in the game and make sure that their judogi (judo uniform) were on correctly. They knew I was quite the stickler for that. To be honest, I was a bit of a stickler for everything, but I had to be. I was the only female captain in Tokyo, and it looked like from the roster for the matchups today, I was the only female competing today. What a shame.

Not wanting to waste anymore time, I sped walked to the girls locker room which was unsurprisingly empty. I changed into my white judogi which had Keizai University on the right arm in black kanji letters and tied my red belt to my waist. The red belt indicated that I was a 9th degree black belt, and I only wore it for special occasions like testing to rank up or for competitions. Speaking of which, I was about 6 months away from reaching the final rank as long as my performance stayed on par.

I was the highest ranked on the team, with Castillo and Inoue being 8th degree black belts, Takahashi and Saito being 7th degree black belts, and Yamazaki being a 6th degree black belt. Most people in competitions for the college level were at around the 7th degree or maybe 8th degree black belt mark. There were the occasional 9th degree or even 10th degree black belts in previous years, but they were very rare. Depending on the results of the next couple of tournaments, I could reach my final rank by the end of the first semester.

That thought further lit my competitive flame as I took out a red plastic hair tie and pulled my hair into a high ponytail. Then, I grabbed some extra grip bobby pins out of my bag and twisted my hair into a secure but slightly messy bun. It didn't need to be perfect, it just needed to stay out of my way during the matches. I checked my appearance one final time before taking a deep breath and heading out of the locker room.

"Mikia-chan!!!!!" a loud and overly excited voice called out to me, and to my surprise, a literal giant with slick silver hair and green eyes began waving and running over to me. Haiba Lev, and my eyes widened when I noticed who was with him.

"Hey hey hey, Endou-chan! You know this giant?" Bokuto called out with a grin. With them were Akaashi and Kuroo, the tall black haired man that I had slammed the door in the face of. To my surprise, they all looked fairly happy to see me. Could they not take a hint? Before I could make my feet move, they were already directly in front of me.

"Hello, Endou-san," Akaashi greeted politely with a slight bow, "Sorry to disturb you. Haiba-san mentioned that his university's judo team was quite good, and we got brought along to watch." Lev was nodding like an over-excited puppy before jumping in.

"Yeah! But I had no idea you were on the Judo team, Mikia-chan! **_Is this why you quit showing up for Russian tutoring?_** " Lev asked, switching to Russian for the last bit, throwing me off but thanks to the copious amounts of studying I was doing, I just managed to understand him.

" ** _Yes. I'm the team captain, so I am very busy_** ," I replied back in a sort of broken Russian, but lying about why I wasn't showing up.

"You speak Russian? That's amazing," Kuroo finally spoke up, his tone showing that he was clearly impressed making me blush a little bit at the compliment. Not many people were interested when they found out I spoke another language, especially not the basics.

"Um... My Russian is very basic..." I responded, feeling a bit shy at all the eyes suddenly on me.

"She also speaks fluent Spanish and English as well. Not that I blame you guys for flirting with her, but we need our team captain now," Castillo's accented voice cut in as I felt his large hand grab my arm and pull me along.

"Gonbatte kudasai!!! (Good luck)" I heard Bokuto and Lev yell from behind me, causing me to let out an involuntary giggle.

"Don't get distracted now, Captain. We have some asses to kick and teammates to inspire," Castillo teased, "But I gotta admit that black haired one was pretty hot."

"What about that gorgeous little blonde you keep flirting with in your statistics class?" I teased back.

"What about her?" he joked with a wink.

"Raul, have I ever told you you're a horrible person?"

"Only when it comes to romance, my dear Captain," he finished with a slightly guilty smile. That's right. My gorgeous best friend and vice captain was a total player and he acknowledged it. He never mislead his partners though and told them straight forwardly that he didn't do romance. It was all fun and games for him. The scariest part: Raul was pansexual(attracted to people regardless of their gender), meaning no person was safe from his charms. Early on though, he pointed out that he would never try anything with me. He had told me that something about me made him more so want to make me smile and help support me. In my opinion, it was probably because he'd saw me get my ass handed to me so many times by seniors that didn't like that a girl was on the team, and if there was one thing Castillo couldn't stand, it was bullies.

But that's a story for another time. For now, I had team with two very nervous first years in front of me and a tournament to win.

\------------------------------------------------  
  
Song: You've Got a Friend in Me (Cavetown cover)


	7. Ch. 5: Temporary Freedom

_"I can talk to hundreds of people in one day,_ _but none of them compare to the smile you can_ _give me in one minute."_

\---Kuroo's POV---

I'm not quite sure why Bokuto, Akaashi, and I got dragged along on this adventure Lev wanted to go on. But for once, I'm very glad I came along with the talkative kid. As soon as Lev called out to Endou, my eyes went to her and I didn't hear much of anything else for a minute. I know I've said it before, but the woman in front of us was stunning. This time though, it wasn't her physical appearance that got me. It was the pure unwavering tenacity and focus that reflected in her eyes.

Her posture was relaxed but firm, but as she looked at Lev, her eyes widened in surprise. Part of me worried she would panic at seeing us but she seemed confused, not on edge like she had the last time we saw her. _Did she get away from whoever was hurting her?_ I sure hoped so. She looked a lot happier and at peace at the moment, and it suited her much better than the paranoia that had been evident in her body language last time. It was almost like meeting a completely different person.

Anyways, after our interaction with her, which ended with some foreigner who I guess was her teammate dragging her away to where the rest of their team waited, I let myself focus back on the conversation going on with the people around me.

"Wow, her Russian has gotten much worse," Lev commented causing Bokuto, Akaashi and I to all look at him in shock, "What? She used to come for tutoring every week if not every day. It doesn't make sense why she would stop." At that comment, Akaashi and I's gazes met for a moment before he shook his head slightly. He was right. It wasn't our place to tell Lev what we figured was the real reason Endou quit showing up to tutoring.

With that, we found some seats where we could clearly see the matches as they happened. Keizai did pretty well, especially their short first year, I think the announcer said his name was Inoue? What the hell is with short first years being ridiculously talented? Anyways, most of the matches went to timer with no one scoring a full point that would automatically end the match. Finally, it was Endou's turn to fight. I felt myself getting a bit nervous for her when I saw that the man in front of her was a bit taller than her and clearly bigger than her muscle wise. The whistle blew, and to my surprise, I swear I blinked and Endou had the guy pinned. In no time, the whistle blew signifying Endou as the winner.

"Psst, Kuroo," Bokuto whispered getting my attention and talking where only Akaashi and I could hear, "If she's that strong, why the hell is she letting some guy beat her up?" At that question, I could feel the fury radiating off of Akaashi, and if Bokuto's nervous expression was any indication, he could too.

"Koutarou," Akaashi began still quietly so Lev couldn't hear us, causing Bokuto to look even more nervous as from what I understood, Akaashi almost never used his first name, "Abusers don't stay in power just because of physical strength. They use emotional and mental tactics too. Also, did you notice that Endou-san immediately released her opponent and went to help him up? Even though the guy slapped her hand away, she didn't show any type of aggression after the match was done." I swear every time this topic comes up, I see Akaashi in a different light. As much as I know I get on his nerves, I really can't help but respect the guy, not only for putting up with Bokuto's crap but also for his intelligence. It was on par with Kenma's.

"Gomen, Akaashi," Bokuto mumbled looking a bit like a kicked puppy to which Akaashi sighed and rubbed his back discreetly.

"Just don't assume things like that again, okay?" Akaashi instructed softly to which Bokuto nodded.

"You think she's still in that situation, Akaashi?" I asked quietly. Akaashi nodded but didn't elaborate. I hoped he was wrong.

We continued to watch the matches. Most of the Keizai team members made it to round three in their divisions but lost in their final matches, except for the foreigner from earlier, I think they said his name was Castillo. Endou was in the top division apparently because of her belt ranking from what the tournament program said.

Endou's other two matches had gone similarly to her first one, in that they lasted less than a minute. On her second match, Endou had a flipped a guy so hard onto his back that the match ended right then, and on her third match, she got the guy in something called arm bar that you knew left the guy sore. It was mesmerizing to watch her. Not only did she look some calm and focused out there, but she never seemed to move in a way that was egotistical or indicated that she believed she had already won.

As she entered the mat for the last match, my confidence in her faded a bit as my concern for her increased. Her final opponent was a guy that was even taller than Lev and as built as Bokuto was, if not more so. She looked tiny and fragile next to him, but despite that, her expression and posture did not change. Endou looked just as calm and ready as she had before every other match.

The whistle blew and unlike the last couple of matches, her opponent moved first, causing them to be engaged in a grappling match for at least 30 seconds before he managed to get a good grip on Endou, lifting her up and throwing her. I held my breath as she fell on the mat, not flat on her back but at an angle. To my surprise, she rolled shortly after hitting the ground and stood up. There was clear bruising starting to form where her face had hit the mat, but that didn't seem to slow her down. This time, instead of letting him lock her into a another grappling match, she moved quickly, blocking off his attempts at grappling before finally managing to get behind him and grabbing him in a choke hold. Both competitors fell to the mat, but Endou's arm that was performing the choke hold did not budge from its place around her competitors neck. In seconds, the other competitor tapped out and the whistle blew, declaring Endou the victor.

"So what are you thinking about her now, ehhh bro?" Bokuto questioned with a smirk. _She's perfect._ I know a lot of guys get turned off when a girl has that amount of muscle or strength, but damn, that whole display was more of a turn-on for me than I'd like to admit. What can I say? Fuck gender roles. If a girl a wants to be a badass in martial arts, then she should be.

"I knew it. You're simping already, you rooster-headed bastard," Bokuto answered his own question causing me to roll my eyes at him. I opened my mouth to speak, but Lev had unfortunately heard this conversation.

"Wait! Kuroo-senpai, you like Mikia-chan?" Lev asked loudly causing me to whack him on the head.

"Enough, Lev. I've only met her once, so I don't know if I like her. Plus, she has a boyfriend," I pointed out bluntly. It was a bit of an assumption, but Akaashi seemed fairly confident that she did because he'd seen them together around the apartment complex a couple of times.

"Well, you're probably way better than him anyways, Senpai. Plus, I think you and Mikia-chan would get along. Especially since you don't care if her Russian sucks. Which it totally does," he rambled with a huge grin on his face. At this point, I ignored him, my eyes drifting back to Endou, and my face flushed ever so slightly at the sight in front of me.

In the midst of her teammates giving her high fives and congratulating her, Endou had a grin that looked _almost_ completely carefree. Seeing that expression, I found myself even more drawn to her, and I seriously debated going up and congratulating her, that is until I saw her check her phone and the grin leave her face for only a moment. The moment passed and the grin returned to her face, but this time I noticed: the smile didn't reach her eyes anymore.

\-----------------------  
  
Song: You're Gonna Go Far Kid by The Offspring


	8. Ch. 6: Birthdays

_At any point, you have the power to say,_   
_"This is not how my story is going to end."_

\---Mikia's POV---

The week following the Judou tournament was fairly busy for me. There was paperwork to file for the judou team's funding since we had placed well enough as a team to continue to the next level of tournaments. That was a fair amount of paperwork for me to fill out including starting on our stats sheets for the next tournament and seeing who all qualified to test for the next level of belt. So far only the two second years did, but I would after about a month's worth of practice. 

And that was just the work I had for the Judou team, I also had exams in my Russian, Linguistics, Keigo (Formal Japanese), and English Literature classes. The Russian exam went awful despite neglecting the other exams to study for that one. The other exams went alright in comparison, but if I wanted to maintain my scholarship for the next semester, I couldn't afford scores like those again. My last class of the day on Friday finally ended, and I found myself dragging my feet to practice, totally spent from the hectic pace of the week.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAPTAIN!!!" a chorus of shouts filled my ears as soon as I entered the gym, confetti poppers going off causing me to flinch and jump slightly in fear that I quickly covered up with a shocked expression as I took in the scene in front of me. Our practice area had been completely decorated with deep purple and pale pink streamers. A huge, hand-made sign that read HAPPY BIRTHDAY ENDOU MIKIA in large font and decorated with some adorably messy drawings of judo uniforms, stick figures of the team, and signatures from all of them was hanging on the wall behind my entire team who were standing there with huge smiles. Tears filled up in my eyes a bit, as I quickly rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand as I looked up at all of them and gave them a huge grin, immediately forgetting about my exhaustion from the week.

"Thank you guys so much!" I said, the grin not fading at all from my face. Castillo came up to me with a gift bag and handed it to me with a knowing smirk.

"You totally forgot your birthday was today, amiga," he said, leaving no room for me to argue as I just nodded and gave an embarrassed laugh as I took the present.

"I haven't had time to care this week if I'm honest," I admitted, "Senior year is kicking my ass."

Noticing the looks of anticipation on the faces of my teammates, I opened the gift bag and felt myself getting misty eyed again as I looked at the leather bound book in front of me with big red letters that said MEMORIES AT KEIZAI. As I opened the book, I was shocked to see it filled with pictures from each of my years at Keizai University. Most of them of course were of me and the other members of the Judou Teams from each year.

What surprised me most were the pictures of me outside of Judou. There were several of me in selfies making silly faces with the various members of the team, and even one that I can only guess Castillo had taken of me with my hands in my hair and my face on the desk in the language lab with Haiba laughing his ass off. The pictures reminded me of just how far I'd come in these 3 years, and as I paused, paying special attention to a group photo of our team from the beginning of the semester, I noticed the huge, sincere smile on my face. I looked so happy that I didn't recognize myself.

When was the last time I had seen my reflection with a smile or something other than the bruises I constantly had to hide or the lines between my furrowed brows as I tried to calm down before Katashi got even more mad?... I couldn't remember anymore. Shaking my head at the thought, I made sure I still had a smile on my face so no one worried. Surely it was all in my head and it wasn't that bad, right?... Right.

"Senpai, come eat! We got cake!!! Luisa-san said that lemon was your favorite so that's what we got!" Tatsu explained, as he grabbed my wrist and pulled me towards where the cake was. I laughed a bit as he dragged me along. The rest of the little celebration went well, with everyone talking about different memories and going through the album together. With all the emotions and smiles, time flew. Before leaving though, Luisa requested that we get one final picture of all of us together with the decorations, showing me that there was already a page in the album decorated with a space for the photo to go once it was printed out.

After taking the picture, I happened to glance at my phone and noticed the time. My pulse raced as I quickly excused myself from the team with everyone telling me to go ahead and they would clean up. I quickly threw on my tennis shoes and sprinted back to the apartment. About halfway back, it started raining heavily, soaking me to the bone well before I reached the apartment. As soon as I made it to the door, I unlocked it and made my way inside only to be met with words and a voice that made me want to run back out of the door I had just entered.

"Nice of you to finally show up, whore," Katashi's voice spoke harshly as I turned to see his emerald eyes blazing in anger as he showed me his phone screen. When I looked at the picture on his screen, I felt my blood freeze in my veins as I finished shrugging off my soaked button up shirt, leaving me in my pale pink tanktop that just barely covered my bra and pulled my soaked blue jeans off, revealing just a pair of black tight athletic shorts that I always wore under my clothes.

One of my teammates had posted the picture from the party earlier. In the photo, Castillo and Saito, one of our second years, had their arms around my shoulders, and I had an open mouth smile on my face since the picture was apparently taken right after they made me laugh. Looking at the photo, several emotions rushed through me but the two most prominent ones were yearning, yearning to be able to feel happy like I was in that photo, and fear, fear of the man in front of me, the one I had dedicated a good chunk of my college years to as well as my heart.

"Nothing happened. They threw me a surprise party. I'm not even sure how they knew my birthday was today!" I protested, mostly telling the truth. Castillo remembered my birthday every year, but there was no way in hell I was telling the obviously already pissed Katashi that tidbit of information.

"What bullshit... I always knew you were a slut. Now, I have fucking proof. Damn. I don't even know why I put up with your shit. After all I've done for you," Katashi spat venomous words while pulling his phone away from me, and as I lost view of the picture of the people who made me really smile, something in me snapped.

"And what exactly is it that you've done for me? And what exactly is it that I always do? Have friends? Because the Judou team are the only friends I've had in years. You made me ditch all the others," by now, I was shaking as I spoke and tears welled in my eyes but I couldn't stop the words coming out of my mouth like gasoline being poured on a fire, "I've revolved my entire life around you for the past 3 years. I do everything for you and make you my number one priority. And what do I get? Bruises I can barely fucking cover up."

That's when I felt the first blow to my face, a sickening crack announcing my newly broken nose. Despite the dizzying pain, I was able to face Katashi as he looked livid. The look in his eyes was something unlike anything I had ever seen from him. He looked... murderous...

"Let me tell you what I've done for you, you worthless slut," he all but hissed as he grabbed a fist full of my hair and yanked me closer to where I could feel his hot breath on my face, "I took pity on you and chose to live with you when I could have picked plenty of other girls who were much prettier, much smarter, and worth so much more than you are. You should be thankful that I even give time to someone so worthless that her own parents kicked her out." His words hurt like a punch in the gut; however, the punch he actually gave to my gut made me vomit.

As I doubled over in pain from the retching and trying to catch my breath, I heard his footsteps fade further away, and for a brief moment, I had hope that I had already faced the worst of his wrath. In fact, I had already started planning how to hide the damage done to my nose or explain it away so no one noticed. My naive hopes were ended when my jaw was gripped way too harshly, and I was yanked into a standing position before I felt several small objects shoved into my mouth before a hand plugged my nose and covered my mouth. In a panic, my eyes met Katashi who had a sadistic grin on his face.

"Don't worry, baby. These will help you calm down until you can remember your place," he cooed in a sickeningly sweet voice as he held up a pill bottle. When I saw the label, I panicked. It was a sedative that I had been prescribed years ago for panic attacks, when Katashi's anger was just showing its ugly head. The doctor had warned me that since it was a barbiturate, if I took more than the recommended dose, it could kill me. At that thought, I began to struggle, but I was losing too much oxygen, and when I still didn't swallow, Katashi gave me a hard slap across the face, causing me to swallow some of them while I managed to spit a few out.

I wanted to ask why... Why would he do this to me... He knew the effects of that medication, and as I looked into his crazed emerald eyes, a realization hit me: he didn't care if I died here. At that thought, my sense of self-preservation kicked in, and on pure instinct, my leg lifted up delivering a swift kick to Katashi's manhood, causing him to buckle over, giving me enough time to grab my two bags by the door and book it out of the apartment.

Without any sort of plan, I ran out of the building and hid under the awning in the alleyway beside the apartment complex. Feeling panicked as the effects of the drugs started to kick in a bit, I collapsed in the alleyway, only halfway covered by the awning and shoved two fingers down my throat, causing me to retch and throw up what I hoped was enough of the pills that Katashi had made me swallow.

When the retching finally stopped, I had no energy left as I just managed to prop myself on the side of the building, my body going completely numb, my eyes open but not really comprehending what they were seeing as a guy with yellow tipped hair came into view, his cat-like eyes asking a million questions that I no longer had the ability to answer. The last thing my brain processed was seeing him remove his black jacket and putting it over me and pulling out his phone. Then, everything went black.

\------------------------------------  
  
Song: Blackbird (Cover by Boyce Avenue)


	9. Ch. 7: Help

**_"There is a blanket of peace that covers the soul of the broken."_ ** ****

**_~ R. H. Sin_ ** ****

\----Kuroo's POV----

" _Kuroo, I need your help downstairs. Now,_ " Kenma's voice over the phone sounded off. He almost sounded concerned, which while not unheard of from my pudding-haired friend was definitely uncommon.

"What's going on, Kenma?" I asked while simultaneously slipping on my shoes and jacket, not wanting to waste time if Kenma was already worried enough to call me for help.

" _I found a girl. She's in really bad shape. I can't lift her, and her skin is freezing. She looks like... she looks like she was attacked, Kuro_ ," Kenma's voice shook at the last phrase, and my mind raced, my brain going immediately to a certain caramel haired girl that I had not been able to get out of my mind since I met her.

As I finally made it outside to where Kenma was, my heart dropped. There was Endou, but she was almost unrecognizable. Her left eye was swollen and blood was flowing rapidly from her obviously broken nose, soaking her mouth, chin, and her form fitting tank-top. There were countless bruises of various stages of healing covering her chest and neck just from what I could see that weren't covered by the jacket that was draped over her shaking figure. This was all insanely alarming, but I had seen plenty of injuries in volleyball. The part that alarmed me the most was the glassy look in her eyes. The gunmetal blue color seemingly clouded over as though she was looking straight ahead but not seeing anything.

 _I'm gonna kill that bastard_. My thoughts were uncharacteristic for me. I'd never been a violent person, but knowing that someone would do something like this to another person was sickening to me. How could anyone go after someone who seemed so strong and full of life? What would there be to gain from harming someone like this?

"Call Akaashi. Tell him it's Endou-san and we need to warm her up as soon as possible. Warn him that she's in bad shape so he can warn Bokuto," I ordered Kenma before gently hooking one arm under Endou's legs and using the other to support her back as I picked her up, trying to keep her as steady as possible to avoid irritating any of her injuries. To my surprise, and further concern, Endou did not even flinch as I carried her quickly up the stairs to Bokuto's apartment. My thoughts briefly went to what would happen if we ran into the asshole who did this to her, but fortunately, the hallways were empty as we made it to their apartment and entered without knocking.

"Akaashi! Get the first aid kit and some blankets! Quick!" I yelled out, which for some reason is what caused Endou to flinch, the first reaction she had had to an outside stimulus. This was an encouraging sign, though I did feel bad for causing her more discomfort. As Akaashi left to do just that, I noticed that Endou was trembling in my arms. Worried that she might be uncomfortable with a guy touching her on top of everything else that had happened to her, I gently sat her on the couch, making sure Kenma stayed beside her to keep her sitting up. She didn't need to be laying down with a broken and bleeding nose.

"Kuro," Kenma's calm voice snapped me out of my adrenaline filled pacing and caused me to turn my focus to him as he looked in concern at Endou, "She's going to have a hard time warming up in wet clothes. She needs to get into something dry or she's going to get sick." He was right, as per usual, but what were we supposed to do about that?

"I brought some dry clothes for her. They're mine, so they're going to be the closest to fitting her," Akaashi stated, returning to the living room with a first aid kit in one hand and fresh clothes in the other. Bokuto was right behind him, and when his eyes landed on Endou, they widened in a mix of shock, sadness, and anger.

"Alright, I'm going to kick this guy's ass! Come on, Kuroo!" he announced angrily, heading towards the door. While I totally agreed with him, I didn't feel right leaving Endou like she was.

"Enough, Koutaro," Akaashi said sternly before looking at Endou who had gone back to being mostly unresponsive. He knelt in front of her, trying to get her attention and spoke slowly to her.

"Endou-san, do you remember me? My name is Akaashi Keiji. I was with these two when they came to check on you last time," he said clearly, and when Endou did not respond, he continued with a slightly different tactic, "We need to get you changed into something dry and treat your injuries. Blink twice if you need help changing. I promise no one here will hurt you." Slowly as though it took way more effort than it should have, Endou's gunmetal eyes blinked once, and then again.

"You're doing great, Endou-san. Now, I'm going to suggest we have Kenma-san change you and Kuroo-san will stay in the corner without looking in case Kenma-san needs help moving you. Kenma-san's the one who found you. If you're more comfortable, I can do it as well. None of us would try anything since we aren't attracted to girls," Akaashi explained ever-so bluntly. I would have laughed at his bluntness if the situation wasn't so shitty.

Endou nodded slowly. And again, using the blink twice method from before, Akaashi confirmed that Endou was okay with Kenma changing her with me being in the corner of the room. That's how we ended up in Bokuto and Akaashi's spare bedroom where after putting Endou on the bed, I went dutifully to the corner of the room, my back facing the other two, listening intently for any signs that they would need my help.

"Your name is Endou-san, right?" I heard Kenma trying to speak in a way that helped her feel comfortable and I felt a swell of pride at him showing this side of himself to another person, "My name is Kozume Kenma, but you can just call me Kenma. I hate formalities. The reason they picked me to change you is because I'm asexual. I never really got the whole physical attraction thing. Bodies are just bodies to me." I chuckled a bit at his rambling and I could feel the glare he shot in my direction.

"Can you lift your arms at all, Endou?" Kenma asked and continued his rambling after a couple of moments, "This must all be awkward for you. I'm not sure how you know Kuro, Bokuto, and Akaashi, but despite how annoying the first two can be, they tend to be quite reliable. I don't know what you did, but they all seem quite protective of you, which isn't normal for them so quick.... We're done, Kuro. You can turn around now." When I turned around, I saw that not only had Kenma helped Endou change her clothes, he had also washed all the blood off from her face chest. With the blood gone, her injuries were a lot more evident.  
"I'm going to carry you back to the living room okay? Bokuto and Akaashi set up some extra blankets for you in there," I informed her, trying to speak as normally as possible in order to hopefully make her feel a bit more comfortable, and as her eyes darted to Kenma, I quickly added, "Kenma will be coming with us."

When we made it into the living room, I once again placed Endou down on the couch. I noticed her eyes were appearing to clear up a bit and finally, she spoke, her voice sounding hoarse.

"Thank you, Kozume-san, Kuroo-san," she croaked out slowly, earning a smile from me. At least she was speaking, but the slight slurring had me concerned.

"Kuro, you should do an evaluation of her injuries," Kenma spoke up and I nearly facepalmed for not thinking about that. When Endou looked nervous, I quickly explained.

"I have training in sports medicine, so I know how to evaluate injuries. I can even treat them in cases of emergencies. You never know when you'll need something like that in sports," I explained, earning a nod from Endou that I took as permission to begin. As I looked over each of her injuries, I felt a lot better about most of them; however, there were two major concerns.

"Endou-san, most of your injuries don't need to be treated at a hospital; however, your nose needs to be reset, and you are showing signs of a concussion. We really should get you to a hospital so they can evaluate the extent of those," I said matter-of-factly. Honestly, I would much prefer if she went straight to the hospital. Despite her shaking slowing after being wrapped up in the blankets, she still wasn't in the clear by any means.   
"I don't have a concussion," she stated slowly, her speech slurred still but not as bad as before, "H-he drugged me... Barbiturates... I managed to spit out most of them... And then I tried to throw up the rest... They must have already... taken some effect." The look of horror on Kenma's face I could only imagine matched the fury I was feeling in my head, but thanks to years of staying calm as a captain, I was able to avoid showing the plethora of emotions I felt at that statement. Instead, I reverted back to the medical training that I did have.

"Do you know how many you swallowed?" I asked, to which she shook her head.

"No more than 5 I think... It's all.. a blur..." she responded honestly and I sighed and decided to focus on what appeared to be the more serious issue.

"Well, we still should take you to the hospital to get your nose reset," I finally said and I saw her stiffen, eyes widening in fear as she quickly shook her head.

"C-can't you just reset it here? You have medical training right?"

The desperation with which she asked the question only caused me further concern, but as she began trembling again, Kenma stepped in, wrapping an arm around her, shooting me a look in the process. After years of friendship with the pudding-haired boy, I knew he was stepping out of his comfort zone with all the physical comfort he was giving Endou, and if the look I was getting from him was any indication, he fully expected me to do the same. Heaving a sigh and running my fingers through my ever-unruly hair, I looked at Endou and grabbed the first aid kit from the coffee table before kneeling down in front of her and grasping her chin gently to get her to look at me so I could assess exactly how I was going to do this.  
"Alright, I can reset it here, but the risk of infection is much higher, and I also don't have anything to numb it with, so this is going to hurt like a bitch. Are you still sure you want me to do this here instead of going to a hospital?" I asked, my eyes staring intently into hers. Anything less than a confident yes, and I would be dragging her to the hospital to get treated. I was already apprehensive about this, but her being treated by me is better than leaving her nose as it was. To my dismay, but not surprisingly, Endou met my gaze with an even and confident gaze as she nodded her head.

"Please reset it here, Kuroo-san. I can handle the pain," she responded without hesitation causing me to sigh again. I took an alcohol wipe from the first aid kit and wiped off my hands and instructed Kenma to bring some paper towels.

"Shouldn't you use something sterilized to pack her nose?" he asked. I rolled my eyes. I swear he just pointed out I had medical training and still thought I was an idiot.

"It's to catch the blood when I reset her nose. When I do that, it's going to more than likely break the clots that have formed. I'll pack her nose with the sterilized gauze from the first aid kit," I explained, and at that, Kenma did as I asked without anymore questions. Finally, after preparing everything, I gently grasped Endou's now completely purple nose.

"Are you ready?" I asked and she nodded, "Okay. On the count of 3. 1... 2." At 2, I snapped her nose back into place, causing her to let out a slight whimper of pain as a gush of blood fell onto the stack of paper towels Kenma was holding under her nose. Her reaction was surprising. I'd seen grown men scream like girls at getting their nose reset, and that was in a hospital with numbing. Endou flinched and whimpered, but she barely moved at the pain. She would wince occasionally as I cleaned up the blood that fell under her nose and packed her nose with sterilized gauze, finishing the makeshift job by using medical tape to secure her nose in place. It definitely wasn't hospital standard, but it was pretty damn good for an at home job if I did say so myself.

"Going on two was a bitch move." At her nasally comment I couldn't help but chuckle.

"It's a diversion tactic. You were too stubborn to take any other kind of medical help so I had to go pretty old school with that one," I responded with a lazy smirk. She was making jokes despite a shitty situation and I appreciated that.

"Speaking of which, can I please get a couple of pictures to send to a friend of mine who works in an emergency room, Endou?" Kenma spoke up, and I noticed her tense at the question before relaxing a bit.

"Fine, but please no pictures of my face," Endou reluctantly agreed. The pictures took very little time, and I bit my tongue from asking Kenma when he had acquired a friend that worked in the ER.

"You really should have gone to a hospital, Endou-san," Akaashi spoke up as he and Bokuto re-entered the living room. I'm pretty sure Akaashi had spent all this time explaining to Bokuto why going to kill the guy Endou lived with wouldn't help anything. Bokuto had always been a really emotional guy, and Akaashi had always kept him in check. It's part of what made them such a great pair in my opinion, even if Akaashi and I butted heads on occasion.

"Thank you for your concern, Akaashi-san, but I have no insurance," she replied, "And.. they would ask too many questions." I frowned at that. We could have figured something out.

"Hey hey hey, we could have helped you out with hospital stuff! Or what about your parents?" Bokuto asked, clearly confused. Endou gave a small smile, but it didn't reach her eyes. Her eyes, while no longer cloudy, looked darker than I had seen them before, like there was a storm brewing behind them.

"My parents and I aren't exactly on great terms, and I would never ask you all for help. You all have already done so much for me. Thank you all," she spoke these things as though they were fact, not with any emotion behind them. I could practically see the walls she was building up around herself as the medicines from earlier wore off.

The room was silent and full of tension for what felt like minutes but was probably only 30 seconds. Bokuto, Akaashi, and I all desperately wanting to ask the question that would confirm our suspicions about how she got in the state Kenma had found her in. We were all too afraid of approaching it in the wrong way.

"What happened to you?" Kenma asked point blank and I shot him a 'what the hell' look. He simply shot back a look that said 'none of you would ask.' A panicked giggle followed by a sob interrupted our silent argument as all of our attention returned to the caramel haired girl.

"I fought back," she whispered with a small smile that grew to a bit of a relieved grin as she spoke up louder, "I fought back... I fought back... and now I have no idea what I will do." The last bit seemed more like a thought that she meant to keep in her head, a surefire sign that the medicine from earlier was still affecting her brain. Akaashi approaches her slowly and puts a gentle hand on her shoulder, giving a small comforting smile when she looked up at him.

"That sounds like a problem for tomorrow. For tonight, just stay here and let the medicines wear off. Besides, no one should be out in a storm like this," Akaashi stated, a clap of thunder seeming to prove his point, earning a reluctant nod from Endou, "Are you hungry?" The woman shook her head.

"The idea of food grosses me out, side effect of the stupid medication," she responded before looking at Kenma and I, "Kozume-san, Kuroo-san will you both be staying too?" Without a second thought, I answered 'yes' and Kenma nodded his head in agreement, surprising me a bit. He must be really worried.

"Also, please call me Kenma. I don't really like being called by my last name much," Kenma insisted earning a hesitant nod from Endou.

"Then, please call me Mikia. I'm sure you know at least a dozen Endous. It's a pretty common name," Endou responded before looking in my direction, "You can call me Mikia as well Kuroo-san." Her voice was a bit shaky when speaking to me, making me fully aware that she was not near as comfortable with me as she was with Kenma, an odd change of pace if I was being honest.

"Mikia-chan can have the spare bedroom to herself! It's got a lock and everything!" Bokuto interrupted what was turning into an awkward exchange between me and the caramel haired woman.

"Thank you, Bokuto-san, but..." Endou looked hesitant and of course Akaashi picked up on it as soon as he came in the room, an unopened bottle of water in his hand that he passed to the woman.

"You're afraid of being alone, that he'll find you right?" Akaashi interjected and Endou looked up at him in relief and nodded.

"But I don't want to be a bother for anyone... I've already caused all of you so much trouble. I'll be fine," she quickly corrected, and I let out a laugh to try and alleviate the tension.

"You won't be causing any trouble! Kenma can stay with you! We used to have sleepovers all the time," I teased before shooting a smirk at Kenma who looked indifferent, "Just know that he's a major blanket hog." Kenma glared at me but was got off by a small laugh from Endou. It was much more relaxed than the panicked giggle we heard earlier.

"Do you mind, Ko- Kenma-san? If you do, don't worry about it. I can manage," she asked, obviously trying to seem strong. But who was she trying to be strong for? She was the one who went through everything. Not us. Kenma blushed a bit in embarrassment at all the attention on him and told her it was fine.

After getting Endou to drink at least half the bottle of water, Kenma and I helped her to the spare room. The medicine's affects still had her a bit shaky on her feet. As we reached the room, we helped her to the bed, and I turned to head to my place on the couch when a hand shakily grabbed my wrist causing me to turn around. Endou eyes were glued to the bed for a moment before looking up to meet mine as she released her grip on my wrist and gave me a slight bow.

"Thank you, Kuroo-san, for all of your help," she stated very formally, and I gave her a small smile. Not a smirk, an actual smile as I ruffled her hair a bit.

"Anytime, kid," I teased earning a huff from her something about not being a kid causing me to chuckle, "Good night." And with that I made my way to the couch. Akaashi and Bokuto had already retired to their room. After about an hour, I was ready to give up on sleep until my phone buzzed with a message. When I opened it, I was surprised to see it was from Kenma. When I saw the picture attached I smiled. It was Kenma with Endou curled up beside him clutching his shirt and sleeping. His message said exactly what I had been thinking since I saw her outside with Kenma.

_If she wants to, she's staying with us. Not up for debate. Now, relax and sleep you annoying rooster. -Kenma_

_\-----------------------_  
Song: Talk to Me by Cavetown

**A/N: So I will probably edit this in the near future because I did not get to proofread at ALL because my child wouldn't quit screaming. But anyways, hope you enjoyed the longer chapter completely from Kuroo's POV :) <3**


	10. Ch. 8: Safe

**_**“no longer do i pray** _ ** **_**  
** _ ** **_**for love** _ ** **_**  
** _ ** **_**i ask God  
** _ ** **_**for the strength  
** _ ** ****_**to survive the pain”** _

**_**~r.h. Sin** _ **

\----Mikia’s POV----

_Bang! Bang!_ As much as I should have been used to the sound of banging and slamming of doors, waking up to it never failed to startle me. Shooting up from the bed, I immediately felt my head spin. Holding my head, it took me all of about three seconds to remember what the hell had happened the day before. And what was the catalyst for the memories to come crashing back down on me?

“Let me in dammit! I know Mikia is here!” Katashi’s voice could be heard clearly through the closed door, and my gaze shot to my right where Kenma had been the night before. But I was met with untidy blankets and sheets. The sound of the shower could just be heard over the murmuring panic that was quickly filling my head. However, that murmur turned into a full on roar when the handle of the door jiggled and the door swung open just enough for a dark-haired blur to come in and shut the door back, locking it behind them.

“Endou-san,” the man I remembered to be Kuroo turned towards me, approaching me slowly with a reassuring smile on his lips, “It’s alright. We aren’t going to let him hurt you again. Akaashi and Bokuto won’t even let him know you are here.” As he made it to the bed, his kind, hazel eyes met mine as if asking permission before slowly lowering himself into a sitting position at the foot of the bed when I didn’t protest.

“I’m sorry, but I’m not sure who you’re talking about,” Akaashi’s voice could be heard just through the door. To my relief, I heard no fear in his voice. It was calm and unwavering, seemingly uninterested. Maybe that would be enough to deter Katashi from demanding to come in. The room around me seemed to shake as I looked down at my hands and realized, I was the one shaking, badly at that. This wasn’t like me. _Come on, Mikia. Get yourself together, for fuck’s sake._ But I wasn’t able to do it this time. The panic was too great. I was causing too much trouble for the people around me, and I had no idea how to make it better. _I should never have come here. I’m just burdening all of them._ My hands began to shake worse, and I felt my breath beginning to come out in gasps.

A clearing of a throat snapped me out of my internal torment and panic, and I looked up to see Kuroo there with a reassuring smile, his arms open in invitation. Normally, I would run away in this situation, determined to handle it by myself, but as the corners of my vision began to go dark from the hyperventilating, I made the decision that I knew I needed at that moment.

Without another thought, I crawled out of under the covers and into the open arms of the raven-haired man. As soon as I got in his arms, he gently cradled me into himself, holding me protectively and gently stroking the ends of my ratty hair.

“I promise he’s not going to get to you, Endou-san. You’re safe,” Kuroo’s low voice vibrated deep into my skull, drowning out the cacophony of panic, and slowly but surely brought me back to my senses. It was only then that I realized I had his t-shirt in a death grip, but I made no move to let go. Instead, allowing the feeling of his soft cotton shirt in my hands to ground me as I focused on the sounds coming from the front door.

“Don’t feed me that bullshit! This gray-haired asshole was flirting with her even though she had a boyfriend! Why wouldn’t he have her here?” Katashi demanded, causing me to freeze and let out a slight whimper at the memory of the night of my meeting of Bokuto in the lobby. There were probably still scars on my back from the glass that had cut my skin that night. I wasn’t sure. I had honestly been too afraid to check. Kuroo’s grip tightened slightly around me for a moment in a reassuring squeeze.

“Endou-san, you’re alright. You’re safe,” he murmured softly. How he knew the words I needed to hear, I wasn’t sure, but I allowed myself to believe the lip service for the moment. My sanity depended on it.

“Well, I assure you if my _boyfriend_ brought her here, I’d be the first one to kick her ass to the curb,” Akaashi replied, sounding slightly annoyed at the idea. I silently thanked the seemingly level-headed man for handling Katashi so well.

“You’re not dating him! You’re just covering his ass!”

“Actually, I’m the one doing things to his ass-” Bokuto’s loud voice was interrupted by a bought of silence that was only broken by Kuroo’s snort as he tried to hold back his laugh. Even I cracked an amused smile as our eyes met. It only got worse when Katashi’s voice rang out.

“Ew! I didn’t realize my neighbors were fucking fags! Disgusting!” That outburst was followed by the sound of the door slamming. Well, after nearly 3 years of dating, I had never learned that Katashi was homophobic as well. I mentally tried to remind myself that I further dodged a bullet by leaving, even if I had no idea what to do next.

“Endou-san,” Kuroo’s voice was soft to get my attention, bringing my focus back to him, “Let’s go get something to eat, hm? You didn’t eat much last night.” I shook my head no on reflex as I moved out of his embrace which he allowed with no resistance, something I was quite appreciative of.

“No. I’ll get going. I’ve been enough of a burden to you all already,” I responded, flinching a bit as my nose throbbed, reminding me that Kuroo set it last night for me, “Can I get some instructions for taking care of my nose though?” My focus remained on Kuroo as the door to the bathroom opened.

“Kuro, don’t tell her anything until she eats breakfast,” a calm voice stated causing me to turn in slight frustration to Kenma who was towel drying his pudding-colored hair.

“I appreciate it, Kenma-san, but I don’t want to bother you all anymore,” I reiterated, surprised when his cat-like eyes met mine, unwavering.

“If you don’t eat here, you’ll just end up burdening someone else. Just eat first if you’re so insistent on leaving,” he replied bluntly, taking me aback. There was no malice in his voice, just reason, and I found myself nodding in defeat without much more than a grumble of wanting to manage fine on my own. A knock on the door stopped the conversation in its tracks.

Kuroo walked over to the door and unlocked it before opening it, and full on cackling as soon as he saw Bokuto, slapping him on his back and teasing him for his comment earlier. His laugh caught me off guard. It was loud, jovial, but honest, unashamed, a kind of laugh that made you want to smile and laugh too. Akaashi rolled his eyes, looking fed up with the two’s antics as he turned his attention to me.

“Endou-san, don’t worry. He’s gone,” he assured with a gentle smile that put me a bit at ease before adding, “Also, we finished making breakfast, and we’d really like if you’d stay here to eat.” I could practically feel Kenma’s gaze burning into my head as I reluctantly nodded with a small smile as to not seem ungrateful.

As I was led into the kitchen area, I found my focus shifting. What exactly was I supposed to do now? It was too late to go live in the dorms for this semester. I still had 4 months left until I would be able to even potentially go back to the dorms. I could possibly stay in a women’s shelter, but I didn’t want anyone pestering me about a damned police report. I just wanted to leave this whole hellish situation in the past.

But what would I do about safety? Katashi knew my schedule and the university I went to. He would easily be able to find me and corner me at school, and I didn’t want to bother anyone else with all of this. I could tell Castillo, but that man would lose his shit. And I really didn’t want to lose one of our best team members on the judo team. I could get pepper spray or something in case of emergencies. My mind was so focused on planning my next move, I hadn’t realized that I had been sat down at the table and an omelet had been placed in front of me along with some miso soup and rice.

“Do you not like traditional breakfast foods, Mikia-chan? We have some pancake mix too if you’d like that more! You have to eat, Mikia-chan!” Bokuto’s loud voice snapped me out of my thoughts causing me to shake my head and give him a small, fake smile to reassure him.

“No. This all looks great, Bokuto-san. Thank you both for the food,” I replied, “Itadakimasu.” Slowly, I started to nibble on the omelet, which tasted amazing, and I felt myself smile a bit to myself, which apparently didn’t go unnoticed.

“He maybe loud and obnoxious sometimes, but Bokuto makes a pretty great omelet, huh?” Kuroo said from left causing me to look at him and nod in agreement.

“Hey hey hey! Whose the obnoxious one, you stupid rooster?!” Bokuto yelled indignantly earning a slight scoff from me at his rooster comment. The two of them went back and forth a bit until a calm voice cut through it all.

“What are you going to now, Mikia?” Kenma asked point blank, something I was coming to understand was typical for the shorter male. All other conversation ceased, and the attention of the other three men went straight to me, making me feel a bit uneasy.

“I’ll figure something out. It’s not a big deal. Don’t worry about me. You all have done more than enough,” I replied, trying to sound unconcerned. I did technically have a plan though I didn’t know how safe it would be. To my relief, despite not looking content with my answer, no one pressed me any further throughout the rest of breakfast.

Due to being used to rushing to eat breakfast in the morning, I finished first and went to the kitchen to wash my dishes, further trying to mentally plan my next move. I could use places with public wifi to do my homework, but I’d need to find some place that Katashi wouldn’t think to look for me.

“You don’t have a plan for when you leave here,” Kenma’s voice said from behind me, quiet enough that it wouldn’t be heard outside of the kitchen. I turned around to see him looking straight at me with his arms crossed.

“I’m going to go to a women’s shelter until I can move into a dorm at the end of the semester,” I responded back, hoping he would stop pitying me.

“He could find you there, you know? That’s probably one of the first places he’ll look,” Kenma replied. I flinched at the thought, and as I felt the need to run, I decided that I was done doing that.

“Then where the hell else would I go?” I spat back, feeling bitter about a situation that I put myself in and not knowing what the hell I could do about it anymore.

“With me and Kuro,” he responded without missing a beat causing me to freeze and look at him as though he had grown two heads, a look that he returned with a roll of his eyes as he uncrossed his arms and explained.

“We rent a house that has a spare room in it. You need a place to stay where that douschebag can’t find you. He’s never met me or Kuro, so he won’t even think anything when he sees us. I’m sure Bokuto and Akaashi would let you stay here, but he lives here and that’s dangerous. Kuro works near the college so you could ride with him to school and Lev, as annoying as that idiot is, could walk with you to classes. It’s not safe for you to be alone right now,” he explained, “It’s not a burden to us, and the door to the spare room has a lock and everything. Look, you need help. We want to help. Staying with us prevents you having to explain it to anyone else unless you choose to.”

I scowled, hating how much what he said made sense. I didn’t want to just accept help from other people without doing anything for them. I decided at that point, since I would be stupid to turn down the offer, I would do whatever I could to repay them or help contribute to the house stuff, even if it was just through cleaning and cooking for the two.

“Are you sure I wouldn’t be a burden to you and Kuroo-san?” I asked hesitantly, and Kenma shook his head.

“We actually already talked about it and he agreed to it as well,” Kenma said, and I felt myself once again taken aback by the unapologetic kindness these guys were showing a random stranger. With that decided, my body went on autopilot trying to process everything, as I went ahead and washed all the dishes that were in the sink before returning to the living room to see Kenma and Kuroo talking, with Kuroo having a slight smirk on his face.

“Awwww, but I wanted Mikia-chan to stay with me and Akaashi!” Bokuto was whining causing me to scoff a bit at that causing the attention of the four men in the room to turn to me.

“Well too bad, you dumbass horned-owl! We get to have her come with us!” Kuroo said, making a taunting face at Bokuto before turning to me with a grin, “Ready to go, Endou-san?” His smile was a bit infectious, and I couldn’t help but let a small one spread across my face as well.

“Sure. I’ll be in your care, Kuroo-san, Kenma-san. Also, please call me Mikia,” I replied with a polite bow. When I looked up, Akaashi stood in front of me with a tan jacket and red scarf. As he held the jacket open for me to put on, I looked at him in confusion.

“If you need anything, Mikia-san, Kuroo-san and Kenma both have my number. Let us help you now. Just until you can get back on your feet,” Akaashi stated as I finished putting on the jacket and he secured the scarf around my neck, “Please don’t hesitate to reach out alright? Especially if the dumbass rooster bothers you too much.” I snickered at that last comment, and as my gunmetal blue eyes met Akaashi’s I saw a sincerity and pain there that I hadn’t noticed before. Something about his expression made me nod without argument.

“Alright. Thank you, Akaashi-san,” I said, and noticed Kuroo and Kenma putting their shoes on. And beside them, a pair of what looked like brand new red and white Nike sneakers, to which I looked up accusingly at Akaashi before just shaking my head and smiling as a couple tears escaped my eyes. There were too many emotions bouncing around in my head.

“No use arguing with him and Bokuto. I learned that the hard way,” Kenma stated bluntly from beside me. I nodded in agreement and put on the new sneakers, deciding to just be grateful for the help I was receiving. I would find a way to repay them all. I didn’t know how yet, but there was one thing I was sure of as we made our way outside and looked up at the sun peeking out from behind the clouds, a few stray tears of relief falling down my face. Despite not wanting to burden anyone, it really did feel good not to be alone.

\-----------------------------------------------------------

Song: It’s On Us by AJR


	11. Ch. 9: Good Omen

**_“and i hate how much pain_ **   
**_your heart has known_ **   
**_but i’d like a place_ **   
**_in whatever space_ **   
**_you choose to exist”_ **

**_~r.h. Sin_ **

\----Kuroo’s POV---- (While waiting on Mikia to come back from the kitchen)  
  
The morning had definitely already been a bit of a roller-coaster. Endou letting me hold her when I found her trembling in the room when her ex showed up was a welcome surprise. It meant that she was starting to trust others besides just Kenma, not that there was any rush. And I’d be lying if I said it didn’t feel nice to hold her like that, even if that wasn’t in the forefront of my mind. There is something surreal and heartbreaking about watching someone you’ve seen layout men almost a foot taller than her, crumbling to pieces at the voice of a man who clearly didn’t see her worth.

“Kuro, she’s going to need clothes,” Kenma’s voice cut through my thoughts, bringing me back to the situation at hand. I perked up a bit.

“You convinced her to come stay with us?” I asked, excitement a bit more in my voice than I had intended. Kenma simply nodded.

“She’ll feel worse if we buy her new clothes. Do you know any girls that could donate clothes to her?” Kenma asked, and I raised an eyebrow at him before giving it some thought. Then, my mind went to Lev since he knew Endou as well, but I remembered at that moment that Lev had a sister.

“We can ask Lev if his sister has any clothes Endou can have, or if she has any friends that do,” I said to which Kenma made a face of obvious distaste at the mention of Lev but nodded in agreement anyways. I quickly pulled my phone out of my pocket and went to Lev’s contact and pressed the call button. Fortunately, the silver haired giant answered in 2 rings.

“Hey, Kuroo-san. What’s going on? You never call!” Lev’s voice was way too hyper for 9am, but I decided to refrain from telling him to chill out since I was about to ask him for a favor.

“Hey, Lev. Something came up. I was wondering if your older sister has any clothes she was wanting to donate or get rid of,” I answered, getting straight to the point and wanting to finish the conversation before Endou returned.

“I think so. I mean I can ask her. Why? You wanting to get a gift for a girl? You should really buy something new for her then, Kuroo-san,” Lev started rambling, and I took a deep breath before cutting him off.

“It’s nothing like that, Lev. There’s just a girl I know who is in a rough spot, and would feel bad if anyone bought her new clothes. Can you please just ask your sister for me?” I asked, not wanting to give out too much information that wasn’t mine to give out. Silently, I hoped he would understand that the situation was a bit sensitive and drop it with the questions. Lev may still be excitable like he was in high school, but he had definitely matured a fair bit too.

“Alright, Kuroo-san. Give me just a minute,” Lev said, followed by the sound of him speaking in Russian followed by his sister’s voice. To my surprise, the next voice that addressed me was not Lev, but his sister.

“Kuroo-san! Hello! Levotchka mentioned you have a friend in need of clothes right? Do you know her size or height?” Alisa’s voice rang out on the phone.

“Um…. I honestly have no idea on her size. But I’d say she’s around 5’8” maybe 5’9”, super athletic, so toned and muscled a bit,” I answered honestly, blushing a bit at trying to describe Endou’s body. It was a bit awkward for me.

“What about her chest? Big, small, average?” Alisa continued her interrogation. If my face wasn’t red before, it definitely was now.

“Um… A bit above average I guess?” I answered, my voice showing how nervous I was earning a laugh from the woman on the other end of the line.

“Awww… Levotchka, your old captain is getting all embarrassed! It’s adorable!” Alisa called out to which I heard Lev begin to laugh before she addressed me again, “Anyways, yes, Kuroo-san I have a bunch of clothes to donate that I got from different companies I’ve modeled for. They should fit your friend. And if they don’t, let me know, and I’ll help find some clothes for her okay? I’ll give them to Levotchka and he can bring them to you.” I smiled in relief and snickered when I heard Lev whine in the background.

“Thank you, Haiba-san. I greatly appreciate it,” I said honestly, “Tell Lev I’ll text him when I can meet up. I’ve got a couple of things to do before I can do that.” She agreed to do so before we said goodbye and hung up. I let out a sigh of relief. That took care of that major concern.

Following that conversation, Bokuto proceeded to pout and complain that he had wanted Endou to stay with them, but we all knew she couldn’t. Her ex could find her way too easily here. It was safer for her to stay with Kenma and I. We also had a room that wasn’t being used at all, and she was comfortable with Kenma. So our place was the most logical place to stay for now.

Soon after, Endou entered the room, and we all prepared to leave. Akaashi had left early this morning for a bit and gotten her a scarf, some shoes, and a jacket since it was getting cold out, and we found her in not much in terms of warm clothing. Thankfully, she accepted the items without argument. I figured it was difficult to argue considering the look in Akaashi’s eyes. He was clearly thinking of his older sister, and my heart went out for the guy.

As we made it outside, I noticed Endou looking up at the sky with a couple of tears falling from her face. I cleared my throat, getting her attention as she quickly wiped her face as we quickly made our way away from the apartment complex. I noticed Kenma keeping an eye on our surroundings, probably keeping an eye out for her ex, which I realized I had no idea what he looked like. Endou walked between us, head held high as though she wasn’t afraid of anything. Her strength was admirable to say the least, but I was starting to get a bored of the silence.

“So Endou-san -” I started.

“Mikia,” she corrected quickly, gunmetal blue eyes darting to mine as if daring me to argue.

“Alright, Mikia-san,” I corrected with a smirk, “Lev says you suck at Russian. Why are you even studying such a complicated language?” She looked a bit annoyed at then sighed.

“I’m a linguistics major. I want to be a translator, and to do that I need to be fluent in four languages,” she explained and then smiled a bit to herself, “And Russian may be complicated, but I think it’s quite a beautiful language. It’s the only language I have left that I’m seriously concerned about passing my fluency test for.” I raised an eyebrow in surprise. Four languages was a lot. Hell, my English was terrible and I studied it since elementary school.

“Damn. I have no idea how you keep all four languages straight. I’m assuming two of them are Japanese and English. What is your fourth language?” I asked, one to keep her distracted from being nervous about her ex finding her, and two because I was sincerely curious.

“ ** _Español_** ,” she answered, her voice taking on an accent that I wasn’t quite familiar with, causing her to smirk a bit at my slight confusing, “Spanish, Kuroo-san.” I rubbed the back of my head in embarrassment and chuckled a bit.

“Yeah. I knew that,” I responded earning a low giggle from the girl next to me, causing my cheeks to heat up a bit. I cleared my throat to try and regain my composure, “Also, Kuro is fine. That’s what Kenma calls me anyways, so you’ll hear it a lot.” My request seemed to take her a bit off guard as we made our way onto the subway. A far off look glazed over her eyes as Kenma gently grabbed her arm and guided her onto the train, each of us taking protective positions around her.

The rest of the walk back to our rental house was quiet, a silent agreement between Kenma and I that maybe Mikia needed some time to process everything. She was no doubt a strong woman. Anyone could see that within minutes of being in her in presence. Confidence and strength rolled off of her in waves. At least, they usually did, but right now, she was more like a candle that was being covered up, starting to die out, desperate for just a bit of oxygen to feed its flame. It was as beautiful as it was sad, and my only thought was that I hoped Kenma and I would be able to help the woman beside us get even just enough oxygen to burn bright again.

“Home sweet home! Welcome and sorry about the mess!” I announced as we made our way into the house and I showed her the kitchen and living room.

“Thank you both so much. I’ll be in your care and I won’t be a burden to you both,” Mikia said, sincerity and seriousness dripping from every word. I gave her a soft sincere smile, not one of my usual smirks and placed my hand softly on her head, moving slowly as to not startle her.

“I know you won’t. We’re happy to have you here, Mikia-san. It gets a little mundane having just me and Kenma here all the time,” I told her, “We’ve known each other since elementary school, so we know each other a little too well sometimes.” Kenma scoffed in obvious annoyance at that.

“Ignore Kuro before he starts going on reminiscing like an old man. I’m going to show you your room, Mikia,” Kenma said quickly cutting me off with a look as his cat like eyes darted to the digital clock on the microwave, reminding me of the little trip I needed to make.

“Yeah. Take some time to get settled in, Mikia-san. I’ve got a couple of errands to run,” I stated, removing my hand from her head.

“Make sure to grab food while you’re out. No need to subject Mikia to our terrible cooking immediately,” Kenma stated bluntly, to which I rolled my eyes.

“Just because you don’t like vegetables, doesn’t mean my cooking is terrible,” I shot back with a smirk.

“Um, I can cook dinner for you guys,” Mikia spoke up, “I’m not a fantastic cook, but I’m pretty good at it. What do you guys like to eat?”

“I like fish or really any traditional food,” I answered, “But you don’t need to worry about cooking for us. Just get settled in for today.” The caramel haired girl shook her head in protest, a fierce look back in her eyes that told me she would not be backing down.

“I enjoy cooking. Now, what would you two like to eat tonight?” she asked again, her voice firm, earning a small smile from Kenma that she couldn’t see. This was his first time seeing this side of her, and it was reassuring for both of us.

“I like any kind of fish honestly. And Kenma just hates vegetables. Other than that, neither of us are that picky of eaters,” I answered honestly. Mikia nodded and thought for a moment.

“If I give you a list of ingredients, would it be too much trouble for you to pick them up on your way back? If not, I can go get them after I finish working on my Russian homework,” she replied to which I gave her a thumbs up.

“No problem. Just text me the list. Kenma has my number,” I said before going back to the front door and putting my shoes back on, “I’ll be back in a bit. Make yourself at home, Mikia-san.” The small smile she gave me made my heart flutter a bit as she walked up to me and wrapped the scarf she had on earlier around my neck.

“Thank you so much for everything, Kuro-san,” she said using the nickname I mentioned earlier, though with the unnecessary -san, “But make sure to take care of yourself too. I’ll be fine. You and Kenma-san both need to take care of yourselves, and that includes dressing for how cold it is outside.” With that, she finished the tying the scarf and turned around and walked back to where Kenma was standing waiting to show her to her room. Meanwhile, I just stood there with what I’m sure was a stupid grin on my face as I shook my head to clear my thoughts as I headed out the door, locking it behind me.

“Mo,m please help me if she ever realizes the effect she already has on me,” I said with an amused smirk playing on my lips as I looked up at the sun peeking from behind the clouds. I took it as a good omen. Mikia definitely deserved one of those right about now.

\-----------------------------  
  
Song: Ally by We The Kings


	12. Ch. 10: Nightmares

**_"it's nights like this_ **   
****

**_where your own vulnerability_ **

**_becomes your own worst enemy"_ **

**_~r.h. Sin_ ** ****

\-----Mikia's POV----- ( _Italics here indicate a flashback or something that isn't currently happening)_

_It was the afternoon following my first win in a judo tournament at the collegiate level. I stood there with eyes bright with excitement and my held high with pride. My gunmetal blue eyes searched the crowd until they met the familiar green eyes of my boyfriend of 4 months. I gave him a huge grin and a wave that he returned half-heartedly, the dejected look on his face putting a damper on my own excitement. Excusing myself from my team, many of which weren't ecstatic about a girl placing higher than them anyway, I quickly made my way to the hallway I had seen Katashi escape out of. There he was, looking handsome as can be but a dejected expression on his usually relaxed face._

_"Katashi, what's wrong?" I asked, breathing a bit heavily from the competition and the sprint I had just done._

_"Don't worry about it, Miki," he replied with a forced smile and kissing me slightly on my temple before recoiling with a scrunched up nose, "Let's just head home. I'm not feeling well and you reek." My mood fell._

_"Hey, don't you have something to say to me, Katashi?" I prompted with a forced grin, hoping to at least get a word of praise or congratulation from my boyfriend. This competition had been a huge deal for me and he knew that. To my surprise, he ignored me and continued walking towards his apartment, where I had been staying a lot lately. My roommate at college was quite... welcoming with her late-night male guests in our dorm room._

_Throughout the walk to his apartment, I kept trying to start a conversation or to get him to acknowledge my accomplishment that day or really just acknowledge me at all to let me know we were okay. He knew I was quite sensitive to feeling like people would stay around and weren't going to toss me away like my parents. That was my biggest fear, and while I did my best to convince myself that we were fine, a couple of words of reassurance would have done wonders for the stress bubbling up in my stomach._

_When we made it to the apartment, he continued to ignore me. Telling me to instead just go take a shower and then we'd talk. Feeling the nerves in my stomach grow ever stronger, I took the quickest and most efficient shower possible, telling myself it was fine and that we would talk and everything would go back to normal._ What a fucking lie.

_"Hey, Katashi! So what's going on? Are we going to go out to celebrate?" I asked, trying to stay positive despite the tense atmosphere in his living room. He turned to me with a glare in his beautiful and usually kind green eyes._

_"Why the hell would we do that? So you can ignore me and make everything about yourself some more? Get a grip, Miki! Not everything is about you, you fucking attention-whore!" he snapped, and immediately I felt a slight temper flare, overpowered only by my own fear of being abandoned._

_"I never said it was! I just wanted to celebrate with my boyfriend who I thought would be happy for me! My fucking bad!" I said, my voice raising a bit higher as I fought back the tears that were coming from the panic I was beginning to feel. That was when I felt the stinging sensation on my cheek for the first time, a couple of tears escaping my eyes as I stumbled back. I raised my hand to my cheek in shock and stared at Katashi who suddenly looked slightly guilty and ran up to me and held me._

_"Miki, baby, I'm so sorry. I don't know what came over me. You were just acting so selfish, and I've had an awful day. I'm so sorry it will never happen again," Katashi assured me and I relaxed, just as I had back then._

_But then the memory twisted as Katashi suddenly had his hand around my neck, choking me with a psychotic grin on his face._

_"Don't worry, baby. I'll find you. You'll never get rid of me."_

_And then, somehow, I screamed._

I screamed and screamed before suddenly I was gently shaken. When I looked up, in the dim light of the room, I could just make out Katashi's figure. _Oh no... He really did find me..._ My pride no longer existed in that moment.

"N-no more, Katashi... Please... I'm sorry..." I whimpered, my voice scratchy from screaming. At that, Katashi reached out to me and opened his mouth to speak, but that's when I saw my opening. I reached up and pushed him, hard enough that he crashed into the shelf behind him groaning in pain. The only thing was his voice sounded different.

"Kuro, what the hell is going on in here?" another voice asked, not sounding the least bit tired, and as I turned to the door, I saw Kenma. _But wait... why did he say Kuro? Has he not noticed Katashi has found us?_ With that thought, my attention darted to where Katashi had fallen into the shelf, but what I saw shook me to my core. There was no shaggy brown hair and dulled green eyes. No, there was a messy head of pitch-black hair and hazel eyes, looking at me in concern as he stood up, rubbing his back.

"I-I..." I tried to apologize, say I would leave, or literally get any words out, but instead, I broke into sobs, the words dying in my throat.

"Kuro, get out. You're making it worse for her," I heard Kenma instruct before I felt the bed to my right dip a bit. Through my tears, I looked up to see a concerned Kenma, his shoulder-length hair tied into a half-up bun.

"Don't you dare apologize, Mikia," he stated as if reading my mind. I felt fresh tears well up in my eyes, and at that moment, Kenma pulled me into a reassuring hug and the dam broke. Sobs wracked my body as the reality of everything that had happened begin to hit me all at once. All the pain both mentally and physically that I had endured from Katashi in the past few years came out in the form of body-wracking sobs, cried into the soft black t-shirt of a guy I had known less than 48 hours.

"None of what happened was your fault, Mikia," Kenma spoke bluntly once my sobs had subsided to silent tears, his grip on me loosening for a moment to pass me a tissue and allow me to blow my nose.

"I appreciate the sentiment, Kenma," I said with a weak smile, "But that wasn't the first time, Katashi had done something like that. I could have left before." At that, I saw I looked up to see Kenma looking stone-faced.

"What did you say his name was?" he asked, "Full name if you don't mind." I was confused but decided to answer. I owed this guy my life, and maybe it would help to talk about it.

"His name is Asai Katashi. You may know him if you play video games or watch YouTube. He streams under the name thekoolestkat," I admitted and immediately Kenma's eyes narrowed.

"Have you heard of a streamer named kodzuken?" Kenma seemed full of questions tonight, but that one made me freeze. How many times had that name led to more bruises or crying or begging for mercy from me to Katashi? How many times had I had to starve myself because Katashi wanted to take his anger out on me due to losing to that screen name?

"Um... yes... To be honest, these incidents with Katashi got a lot more frequent when he started to play against that guy. He always took out his anger about losing on me," I admitted, my body starting to shake at the memory.

"Fuck!" Kenma stated angrily, scaring me a bit. Seeing this, he calmed down, but I saw tears and regret in his cat-like eyes, "I'm so fucking sorry, Mikia." I put my hand on his shoulder trying to be comforting.

"Hey, there's no reason for you to be apologizing. What happened to me was nobody's fault except mine for staying. Not even that Kodzuken person. To be honest, even though Katashi took his anger out on me, it was nice to watch him get knocked down a peg or two when he played against them," I said with a soft smile, before letting out a soft humorless laugh, "Hell, I'd like to thank that Kodzuken person. Their streams were hella interesting, and I appreciated being reminded that there was something that Katashi didn't have complete control of."

At that, I was taken into a tight hug, my shirt getting damp as the tears that were in Kenma's eyes fell. I stiffened for a moment before relaxing and rubbing soft circles on his back.

"Kenma? Are you okay? Did I say something to upset you?" I asked. He shook his head and pulled my head to his chest.

"Mikia, I'm Kodzuken, and I'm sorry for playing any part in what happened to you." With that statement, we both cried a bit, before I pinched his cheek lightly causing him to yelp and glare slightly at me.

"The only part you played in what happened to me was finding me outside, saving me life, and offering me a place to stay. I'm forever indebted to both you and Kuroo-san," I replied seriously before sniffling and having to blow my nose rather loudly causing us both to laugh quietly. Our laughter was cut short by a soft knock on the door frame, alerting us to the presence of Kuroo in the doorway.

"I know you guys aren't having a touching moment without me," he teased with a lazy smirk on his features that softened a bit as he looked at me, "You alright there, Mikia-san?"

"I should be asking you that. How's your back? I'll pay to replace the shelf. I'm so sorry," I rambled, my eyes darting to the shelf that now lay bent in certain places, the books that were on it in a heap on the floor.

"Oh, that thing? Kenma and I have been planning to get rid of it for a while. Don't sweat it. Now quit avoiding the question. Okay? I'm not as dumb as I act with Bokuto," he stated with a smirk. I nodded.

"I'm fine. I'm sorry for disturbing you both," I said with a small bow, the best I could do while still seated. Kuroo walked over and rustled my hair gently, careful to give me time to react if I didn't want him to.

"You're not a problem. We offered. We don't half-ass things. If we don't want to do something, neither of us will do it. Right, Kenma?" the raven-haired man asked his friend, who nodded in agreement, "Now, try and get some rest. We have a friend coming to visit tomorrow. There's a bag of clothes a friend of ours was looking to get rid of that you can have in the closet. Don't stress. They were practically begging someone to take it. Damned models." He chuckled at his own joke before turning to leave, looking over his shoulder as he reached the door.

"Good night, Mikia-san. Good night, Kenma." I smiled a bit to myself as the door shut. Kuroo was odd, but his teasing made me feel a bit more normal and less like a burden if I was honest.

"Are you going to be okay in here by yourself, Mikia?" Kenma's question interrupted my thoughts. I felt my hands begin to shake slightly at the thought but I nodded before I was cut off by Kenma grabbing my hands and giving me a knowing look.

"We're not stupid, Mikia. Let us help you. The futon in here is comfier than my bed right now anyway. It's covered in games from streaming earlier," Kenma stated bluntly before laying down and holding his arm out in invitation which I fell into with a sigh of relief, "Good night, Mikia. Get some sleep. We'll be here." I smiled to myself as I yawned and listened to Kenma's steady heartbeat, Kuroo's loud yawn audible from the hallway as he walked to his room. Whatever this was, as weird as it was, this was what I wanted. For the moment, this was safe. Kuroo and Kenma felt safe.

\-----------------------------------------------------  
  
Song: Nightmares by All Time Low


	13. Ch. 11: Back to School

**_everything you deserve is coming  
_ ** **_be patient  
_ ** **_~r.h. Sin_ **

\-----Mikia's POV-----

The next couple of weeks passed in a blur of stress, homework, and surprising moments of normalcy. Living with Kuroo and Kenma turned out to be much easier to adjust to than I originally thought. It had become a habit for Kenma to come in when I would wake up from nightmares and calm me down and then just pass out in the bed next to me. After the first incident, Kuroo let Kenma go in first and then would normally come in with a glass of water once I'd snapped out of my panic.

The day after my first nightmare, I had skipped out on meeting the friend that had visited Kuroo and Kenma, but I could hear his snarky tone from my room. Most of the time he was there, I hid in my room, doing the mountain of Russian studying that I needed to work on to pass my proficiency test. Kuroo gave me Haiba's number who quickly agreed to come over and help me study because my Russian, and I quote, "is so bad a toddler could speak better." Despite his rude comment, I accepted the help.

Haiba, who insisted I now call him Lev because I was staying with Kuroo and Kenma, was super helpful not only with my Russian but with my schoolwork in general. He was able to sweet talk all the teachers into giving me extensions on my assignments and allow people to record lectures for me. Because of his help, I was able to do all my work without returning to the university for 3 weeks, when my nose had finally healed enough to go without packing and the makeshift casts that Kuroo would put on me.

Also, during this time, I made sure to text Castillo and tell him that he was in charge until I came back. He agreed, on the condition that when I returned I tell him what the hell actually happened, not the "I fell down the stairs" bullshit I was feeding everyone else. I was dreading this as I got ready for my first day back at the university. My long caramel-colored hair was pulled back into a high ponytail as I put a light tinted moisturizer on my face and applied some mascara and lip balm. When I looked in the mirror, I was shocked at what I saw.

The woman looking back at me was not someone I recognized. My gunmetal blue eyes were bright and unafraid and a soft smile rested naturally on my face. A knock on the door took me out of my thoughts as I quickly straightened my red button-up shirt and checked to make sure that my khaki skinny pants were smooth as well. When I opened the door to the bathroom, Kuroo was leaned on the wall opposite the door.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to take up the bathroom," I said, looking as his eyes widened for a second before his face settled into his usual lazy smirk.

"You look nice," he commented, my face turning red at his casual comment, "Are you ready to go? I thought I'd give you a ride since it's your first day back." I shook my head vehemently. One thing that hadn't changed in the last 3 weeks was my intent on not causing the guys any more trouble than I already felt like I did.

"No. Besides don't you have work today, Kuroo?" I pointed out as his smirk grew wider as he ruffled my hair a bit earning a huff from me.

"That's why I'm offering. Your university is on my way to work," he answered, holding up his keys enticingly, "Come onnnn.... It'll be way faster, anddd I'll let you pick the music. See if you can find a song I don't know the words to." I grinned at this. Anytime I needed to ride somewhere with Kuroo, whether Kenma was with us or not, I had learned that Kuroo was quite the music junky. No matter what song Kenma or I picked, he seemed to know the words or at least the tunes and start singing or humming along, especially to annoy Kenma. It had become a bit of a game of trying to find a song that he didn't know.

"You're on," I gave in, snatching the keys from him and running to the kitchen and grabbing a bagel from the table, without toasting it or putting anything on it, causing Kuroo to make a gagging sound as a joke as I threw on my red vans that I had splurged on so I could have some comfortable shoes without wearing down the tennis shoes that Bokuto and Akaashi had gotten me.

Speaking of the lovely couple, they had come to visit at least once a week to check on me. Each time, Bokuto would be overbearing and hug me and threaten Kuroo if he bothered me, and Akaashi would ask me about how I was doing and making sure I was taking care of myself. It was endearing if not a bit overbearing for me. Kenma and Kuroo often had to step in, distracting the others with food or video games. The two, despite Kenma's seemingly antisocial personality and Kuroo's teasing, were very sensitive to the feelings and needs of those around them. They were always diligent in not triggering me or meeting needs I didn't even mention having, but they also were both sure to do it in a way that was not too much.

Anyways, as we got into the car, I tossed Kuroo his keys. pulled out my phone and connected it to his car's BlueTooth as I got settled into the passenger seat. I was searching through my songs, a reminder for a chemistry test that I had the next day popped up, both making me panic a bit and giving me an idea. I smirked as I went to YouTube.

"Let's see you get the words to this one right, you smart-ass rooster," I teased to which he cackled, his laugh bouncing off the walls of the car and causing my heart to race a bit. I wasn't stupid, and I wasn't blind. Kuroo was an attractive guy, well-built, handsome features, and beautiful eyes, but those were thoughts I did not entertain for long. Yes, Kuroo was attractive, and yes, he was very kind and funny, but that didn't mean anything in my case. I was far too damaged to entertain any sort of romantic thoughts for another person or to think that any feelings I allowed myself to have would be returned. Shaking my head to try and focus on the task at hand: owning Kuroo at this stupid game. With that thought, I pressed play, and The Periodic Table song started playing. I sat back in my seat and waited to just listen to the song uninterrupted. There was no way I was ready for what happened next.

"There's Hydrogen and Helium. Then Lithium, Beryllium. Boron, Carbon everywhere. Nitrogen all through the air," this asshole started singing all the words without missing a beat. I hit pause, and he kept going, his grin growing as he saw the look of shock on my face.

"With Oxygen so you can breathe. And Fluorine for your pretty teeth. Neon to light up the signs. Sodium for salty times," he kept going until finally finishing the song, at which point, both our eyes met and we both lost it. Laughter reverberated throughout Kuroo's red Nissan Altima. We both laughed until I was wheezing and Kuroo had to stop a bit longer at a stop sign to catch his breath.

"How...the hell... do you know all the words to The Periodic Table Song, in English no less?" I asked between deep breaths. He grinned at me.

"Well, you never asked me, but I studied chemistry as an additional major in college. I was going to be a chemist, but I just loved volleyball a bit too much, so I stayed in sports management and found the job I have now," Kuroo said with a shy grin finding its way on his face, "Pretty lame huh?" I smiled at his shyness about it now that he had already belted it out.

"Nah. It's pretty cute," I admitted without thinking before quickly trying to cover it up, "I-I mean... It's amazing that you managed to do both at the same time and still remember all of that." Kuroo was silent for a couple of seconds, and I was too embarrassed to look towards him to see his expression. We continued on our commute until Kuroo spoke up about a block from where he was going to drop me off.

"Thanks, Mikia-san. I'm glad my odd little bits of knowledge can make someone smile, especially someone who deserves to smile more," he said with a soft smile in my direction causing my face to flush a bit just as we pulled up to the school. Despite my shyness, I returned his smile and jokingly pinched his cheek.

"Hey now. Where's that teasing, snarky, rooster-headed dork I usually see?" I teased before releasing his cheek and heading out the car door, "Thanks for the ride, Kuroo!" He nodded with a smile and wave before driving off.

"That bastard better not have been the stairs you fell down," I heard a familiar thick-accented voice all but growl from behind me. I turned with a shy smile at Castillo's dark expression before rolling my eyes at his accusation.

"Nope," I responded, my normal captain-like confidence returning at the sight of most of the judo team standing behind Castillo, "He's the one that caught me."

"The fuck is that supposed to mean?" Castillo pushed a glare in his dark brown eyes, one that I met with a look of my own.

"It means, that he's one of the people who helped me while I was hurt. Leave it, Castillo. I'm fine now, and we have a tournament to prepare for," I said as I walked towards the gym.

The air of discomfort surrounding my teammates was palpable as we made it into the gym. After changing clothes, we all partnered up to stretch and then spar. Castillo avoided me the whole time, as did most of the team, leaving only Tatsuki willing to stretch and spar with me. As we started sparring, Tatsuki finally spoke up as he took a swing at me, a fire in his eyes that I hadn't previously seen.

When his fist barely nicked my nose thanks to my reflexes, the scene around me shifted. Suddenly, it wasn't Tatsuki in front of me. It was Katashi. I was no longer in the gym. I was in my old apartment. Instinctively, I collapsed and curled up into a ball, whimpering in fear of what the man in front of me would do to me again. This time, I feared, he might actually manage to kill me.

"Captain!" a voice that didn't fit the scene around me broke me out of my hallucination, and when I looked up, I saw myself surrounded by my teammates, all of whom looked concerned. _No... This wasn't supposed to happen. I was supposed to be over all of this. I was supposed to be strong again. They're all going to judge me, tell me I deserved it. No. I can't let them know._ Fight or flight kicked in. I couldn't stand the looks of pity and concern on all of their faces, and the panic in my head was making my stomach churn.

"Bathroom," was all I managed to mumble out as I pushed through them and sprinted to the girls' locker room where I promptly emptied my stomach of its contents into one of the toilets.

"Mikia-senpai...." A soft accented voice that could only belong to Luisa, called out as she came to the stall I was in. The door was open since I hadn't really had a chance to close it before I vomited.  
"I'm fine, Luisa," I tried to sound confident, but my hands were trembling as was my voice. When I turned to face her, standing up from the toilet, it was clear that she didn't believe a word coming out of my mouth.

"What happened, Mikia-senpai?" she asked softly, "Did someone hurt you? Is it the man we saw you with this morning?" I took a deep breath and shook my head, not wanting to talk about it, and definitely not wanting the guys to find out.

"Mikia-senpai, tell me the truth, please. I swear I will not tell Raul or anyone else. Please just tell me if you are in danger now," she urged, tears starting to well up in her eyes. That was what broke me as I felt a tear fall down my own cheek.

"Thank you, Luisa," I managed to croak out and give her an honest smile, "But I really am safe now. The man you all saw me with this morning is one of the main reasons for that." Luisa's eyes stared into mine for a moment longer, as if searching for any lie, and as though she were satisfied with what she saw, she nodded.

"Okay. Go then to class. I'll cover for you with the guys," she finally said, before adding at the end, "But you should probably see someone about whatever happened. Because whatever it was, you're showing signs of PTSD flashbacks." Did I mention Luisa was studying to become a psychiatrist? Because she is, and moments like this really prove why. Regardless, I didn't have insurance for that kind of thing, but not wanting to worry her, I gave her a reassuring smile and a nod of acknowledgment before running back to change into my regular clothes for the day.

Not wanting to deal with anyone else that day, I texted Lev and asked him if I could walk with him to classes for the day, to which he agreed, knowing my situation and being pretty mature about it. As I saw him waiting for me outside the gym, I took a deep breath before putting on a brave face. I could fake it for the week. After all, fall break was only a week away.

\-----------------------------  
  
Song: The Periodic Table Song by AsapSCIENCE


	14. Ch. 12: Pillow Forts

**_life taught me_ **   
**_what to keep  
_ ** **_and what to let go of  
_ ** **_in the midst of emotional chaos  
_ ** **_there's a lesson  
_ ** **_  
~r.h. Sin_ **

\-----Kuroo's POV-----

It had been a rough week at work, and if Mikia's behavior at home and the messages I had been getting from Lev were any indications, it had been a rough week for her too. Kenma and I had both expected as much, but it was still difficult to watch. After hearing Mikia laugh like she had in the car on Monday morning, I was feeling a bit more optimistic; however, after dealing with coaches from volleyball teams that thought the rest of Japan should worship the ground their teams walked on, I came home to hear the sound of crying coming from Mikia's room.

It was only Wednesday night, and I was already waiting for the week to be over. Kenma and I had been looking for a chance to tell Mikia that he and I were going to Miyagi for a couple of days during the fall break. I wanted to invite her as well, but Kenma had said that maybe some time by herself would do her some good. As I lay on my bed, staring up at my ceiling, the glow in the dark stars that Bokuto had jokingly put up there emanated a soft glow back at me. Suddenly, a clap of thunder followed by a choked scream, unlike anything I had heard from Mikia before, rang out throughout the house.

"Shit!" I muttered as I jumped out of bed and ran towards Mikia's room. Kenma was out for the night on a business trip. As I got to her door, I tried to remember the stuff I had looked up about trauma and PTSD induced nightmares after what had happened the last time. Turning the doorknob, I slowly opened the door but made sure to make some noise as not to spook the poor woman. But as my eyes rested on her trembling form, her eyes were wide in fear but unlike the time before, she seemed to not be afraid of me, which was only made more obvious when she jumped out of the bed and barreled into my chest, her body shaking.

"Mikia-chan," I called out a bit trying to get her attention and snap her out of whatever panic she was currently in as I wrapped my arms protectively around her almost as a reflex.  
"Kuro, he's going to find me. He's going to hurt you guys," Mikia's broken sobs rang out as her gunmetal blue eyes met mine, the fear in them painful for me to see. Gently, I raised one hand to cup her cheek, hoping the contact would help ground her a bit and help her focus on what I was saying.

"Mikia," I said again as I couldn't help but gently wipe away a stray tear from her cheek with my thumb, "He's not going to find you. You, Kenma, and I are all perfectly safe. I won't let him hurt you anymore." The last part came out as a murmur as I hadn't meant to say that bit out loud. Part of me wanted to look away after that, afraid I had just seriously made the poor girl more uncomfortable. To my delight, instead of recoiling or looking afraid, a slight tint of red came to her cheeks that could just barely be seen in the low light of the room and a small sincere smile rested on her lips before she leaned into me and wrapped her arms around me.  
"Sorry if I'm being clingy," she murmured into my chest, "You just give really great hugs." At that, I tightened my grip around her slightly and let a Cheshire grin spread across my lips as I decided to tease her a bit.

"Noted. I'll be sure to use that as my selling points for future dates," I teased causing her to huff and hit my chest just hard enough to knock the wind out of me as I let go to cough and catch my breath before smirking again, "Oi, I thought we were here having a moment?" The smirk that spread across her lips had me stuck between being turned on and feeling like I was going to get rejected.  
  
"What? Not having any luck with singing the entire Periodic Table song for them? I thought that was your ultimate panty dropper honestly," she teased, and now it was my turn to blush. The blunt language she was using was honestly having my thoughts go places they really shouldn't have been given the reason we were both awake in the first place.

"Shhh, Mikia. Don't be revealing all my secrets," I eased out of the teasing with that line letting my smirk fall and my concern show, "Anyways... I wanted to ask, are you alright? Do you want to talk about it?" Her smirk fell into a tired frown as she shook her head quickly.

"Not really. I just wish these fucking nightmares would stop. I honestly haven't slept well all this week. I'm sorry for waking you," Mikia said, her eyes darting to the floor. Not liking the look of guilt on her face for something she couldn't control, I gently reached out and grabbed her hand getting her to look at me. The pain that showed in those metallic blue-gray eyes was so evident that I could feel it myself. The vulnerability I was seeing from a woman who tried so hard to convince others she had no weakness made me want to reassure and protect her, but that wasn't what she needed and I knew that. What Mikia needed was the secret to fighting away all nightmares...

"Have you ever made a pillow fort?" I blurted out a little too excitedly, and when she looked at me like I had lost it, I tried to redeem myself a bit, "Whenever I had nightmares as a kid, my older sister and I used to make a pillow fort and watch movies till I fell asleep. But if that sounds stupid to you, we don't have to. You probably want me to leave you alone so you can go back to sleep. I'm sorry-"

"Kuro!" her voice followed by a giggle snapped me out of my rambling as I was gifted with an adorably sheepish smile, "That all sounds really fun actually. If I'm being honest, I didn't have much of a childhood, so I wasn't sure what that was. Also, I really don't want to be alone again right now. I'm still feeling a bit paranoid, which I know is stupid, but um yeah... Can you teach me how to make a pillow fort?" Her rambling was ended with a nervous question and her cheeks now stained a beautiful shade of pink.

As Mikia stood in front of me, her head just reaching my chin, with her long brown hair in a messy bun piled on top of her head, and a T-shirt and pajama pants, I couldn't help but think she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Ridiculous and cliche as that sounds, it was 100% the truth, and as her smile turned a bit more nervous, I realized I had been staring a bit too long, causing me to blush as well.

"Right! Of course, I'll teach you how to build a pillow fort! Grab the blankets and pillows off of your futon and meet me in the living room," I instructed with a grin, trying to move away from the awkward tension that I had caused in her room. With a nod of understanding from her, I raced off to my room and grabbed my blankets as well as stopping at the hall closet to grab our extra blankets and sheets before meeting Mikia back in the living room. She looked at the pile of blankets and pillows and sheets with a raised eyebrow before looking at me as if asking me how the hell I planned to pull this off.

With that challenging look, I set to work setting up the pillow fort while periodically explaining to Mikia the importance of choosing the right arrangement for the furniture and which covers to use for the top of the fort versus what to use on the floor for optimum comfort and view of the TV. She listened intently with sparkles in her eyes and she helped move the furniture and secure the top of the fort before finally picking out the movies for us to watch. When we were done, we both stood there for a moment admiring our handy work. Noticing how happy she looked, I took my phone out and snapped a picture of her with the pillow fort.  
"What the hell, Kuro! I look like crap right now!" she complained causing me to chuckle as I got situated in the fort and patted the spot next to me.

"You most certainly do not," I responded seriously besides letting a lazy smile rest on my face as I yawned, "Besides, this is your first pillow fort. It needed to be documented." Rolling her eyes at me, Mikia took the spot beside me and pressed play on the movie. As the starting credits began, I felt Mikia lean her head on my shoulder.

"Kuro," Mikia's low voice was softer, almost vulnerable immediately catching my attention, "Thank you so much for all of this. I don't know why, but I feel safe with you and Kenma. I'm not sure how I'll ever repay you guys." With that, I gently wrapped my arm around her shoulder, pulling her into a side hug.  
  
"You are safe here. That's repayment enough for us," I said sincerely as I rested my head on hers for a moment before lifting my head back up to pretend to watch the movie. Mikia relaxed into me before moving her head onto my chest.  
  
"Seriously, Kuro, I want to repay you guys somehow," she insisted.  
"Come with us to Miyagi next week. You have a break, right? From classes?" I suggested before internally facepalming as I felt her tense up. _Why would I subject her to those guys? Oh yeah. Because I'm selfish and would feel better with her there with us.  
_ _  
_"You guys are going to be gone next week?" her voice sounded tight and I nodded, "Are you sure I can come? What's in Miyagi anyway?" She sounded almost guilty for wanting to come.  
  
"Of course I'm sure. I want you to come. We actually are having a sort of reunion there for a group of us that used to play against each other in volleyball. The team mine and Kenma's high school had a rivalry against is from there," I explained, "Plus, I'd love to see you show up some of those meatheads." Specifically, Yaku came to my mind seeing that Kenma and I have a female friend who is even taller than his annoying ass.

"Are you sure I wouldn't be in the way?" she pressed. At that, I reached down and flicked her forehead slightly causing her to squeak a bit in surprise.  
  
"Enough. We wanted you to come but didn't ask before because we didn't want you to feel obligated. We're leaving Friday afternoon because some of the other team's members have work starting on Monday. We'll be staying there till Wednesday, so make sure to pack enough clothes for that amount of time," I said definitively. I was not going to allow herself to feel like a burden if I could help it.  
  
"Thank you, Kuro," was the response I got she relaxed into my arms and I felt a slight wet spot form on my shirt, indicating that she was finally letting out whatever pent up emotions she had. Not wanting to hinder that, I simply kept my arms wrapped around her and pretended to watch the movie, feeling so much like there was no place I'd rather be, the storm from earlier all but forgotten.  
  
\--------------------------  
  
Song: Safe Inside by James Arthur


	15. Ch. 13: Completely Platonic

**_be with the man_ **   
**_who magnifies_ _  
_ _your strengths_ _  
_ _~r.h. Sin_ **

\----Mikia's POV----  
  
The days leading up to the trip flew by as I found myself doing everything I could to get my work done ahead of time so I didn't have to worry about it while we were in Miyagi. Kenma had told me that there was someone he really wanted me to meet as well while we were there.

Oh, and as far as that little incident with me falling asleep on Kuro's chest in the pillow fort, well, it was almost like an unspoken agreement that we wouldn't talk about it. I was embarrassed, but at the same time, Kuro played it off like it didn't bother or affect him. So I came to a simple conclusion. It was platonic, and I was obviously getting attracted to him because someone was actually showing me basic human kindness.

Anyways, by the time we left to head to the train that would take us to Miyagi, all I had left was my final project to work on for Russian. Kenma admitted that Lev was going to be there too though, so I would have help if I got stuck on a certain part.  
"Mikia-chaaaannnnn!!!!" a familiar, hyper voice called out as we reached the platform to get on the train, just as a head of silver hair showed above the people nearby.

"Hey, Lev-san," I greeted with a slight smile. Despite his loud and hyper personality, I found myself enjoying Lev's company. He was like a giant golden retriever or something. Right as Lev looked like he was gonna tackle me into a hug, a strong arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me out of the way, causing Lev to almost fall.

"Senpai, why did you do that??? I just wanted to hug Mikia-chan," Lev whined. At this point, my eyes darted to the person responsible for my displacement. Mischievous hazel eyes met mine that were accompanied by what looked like a brief nervous smile. The nervous smile quickly morphed into a Cheshire grin that I had grown to admire a little more than I would ever admit out loud.

"Well, we can't have you injuring Mikia-chan before we even get to torment her with the others," Kuro teased with a wink in my direction. I rolled my eyes before pushing him just in time for him to fall through the open door of the now stopped train. As he looked up at me in shock, I sent him my own mischievous smirk.

"Somehow, I think I'll be just fine, _Senpai_ ," I teased as I stepped over his legs to get on the train and lifting my small suitcase to not hit him as well, "I think you forget how easily I could kick all of your asses." At that, Kuro seemed to snap out of his shock and jumped up grabbing his bag just in time before the doors closed.

"Hey. I think I might Senpai better than Kuro," he teased earning a middle finger from me.

"Shut it, chemistry boy," I responded before taking an open seat next to Lev so that I could bother him about my Russian project. After all, we had 3 hours to kill.

Once we arrived in Miyagi, all 3 boys seemed super excited, even Kenma looked pretty happy. According to Kuro, Kenma's second-best friend was from Miyagi and would be there for the reunion. Of course, Kuro said he claimed first place as Kenma's best friend, though Kenma was a bit iffy on that if the chopstick that had gone flying at Kuro's head was any indication. We had barely made it off the train when a voice yelled out "Kenma!!!"

"Hi, Shoyo," Kenma greeted the voice his eyes immediately locking onto a shorter guy with bright ginger hair. The boy I was assuming to be Shoyo came running up followed by none other than Bokuto-san behind him.

"Mikia-chaaaannnnn!!! I missed you!" Bokuto yelled tackling me into a hug, scaring the new guy who probably thought I would go immediately to the ground. Instead, I planted my feet and took the hug before promptly maneuvering Bokuto off balance and pushing him into Kuro who barely managed to keep his balance.

"Bokuto-san, I literally saw you last week. Relax," I responded with a small smile so he knew I didn't mean anything mean by it before turning the ginger-haired boy.

"Are you some kind of pro-wrestler or something? What kind of trick was that? You let him run into you like _thump_ and then threw him into Kuro-san like _WHAM_!" the ginger started rambling before he stopped and seemed to realize I had no idea who he was, "By the way, my name is Hinata Shoyo! I used to play volleyball against all these guys in high school!" I nodded in understanding.

"Nice to meet you, Hinata-san. My name is Endou Mikia, but Mikia is fine since you're good friends with Kenma," I introduced with a nervous smile, "And I'm not a pro-wrestler, but I am the captain of the judo team at my university." As the words came out of my mouth, I braced myself mentally for the rude or judgemental comments about there being a girl judo captain. Imagine my surprise when instead I was met with sparkling brown eyes of admiration.

"That's awesome, Mikia-chan! We're kind of the same then!" he announced with a grin, "I'm a pro volleyball player, a wing spiker, not a libero despite me being a bit short." I couldn't fight back a grin of my own.

"Hell yeah," I said as we all started walking towards wherever the hell we were headed to for the evening. As Kenma, Hinata, Bokuto, and Lev walked ahead, I found myself realizing that I was back near my hometown and found myself a bit uneasy. As though this nerd could sense it, Kuro stayed back with me.

"Are you alright, Mikia? I know Chibi-chan can be a bit much," he said softly so the others couldn't hear us. I nodded slightly and met his concerned gaze for a moment.

"I'll be fine. Just brings back memories," I admitted as we passed by a park I used to play at as a kid with my best friend, Yacchan, "I actually used to live in Miyagi when I was younger." Kuro looked shocked but nodded before walking a bit closer to me, his hand grabbing mine and squeezing it briefly as a sign of comfort. His hand was large and warm. His thumb rubbed soothing circles on my hand for a moment before starting to release his grip on my hand. For some reason, when he went to pull away, I gripped his hand instead. For the comfort of course. Completely platonic.  
  
\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Song: I Will Be Okay by mimi bay

I know this chapter is super short and I'm sorry. It was more of just getting to the stuff I have planned next chapter. Plus I'm going through some personal stuff that makes writing or doing much of anything very difficult for me. Anyways, thank you all again for your support. I really appreciate it! <3


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